This course was taught by Dr. Song at the University of Akron. It had an enrollment of 14 graduate students. The objective of this course was to enable students to have the necessary and advanced knowledge in control of smart materials and structures.

Topics Outline

1. Review of smart materials and structures.
2. Aerospace applications of control of smart structures
3. Review of classical controls.
4. Review of modern control theory.
5. Introduction to nonlinear control & Lyapunov's Second Method.
6. Introduction to sliding mode based controls: robust and adaptive controls.
7. Robust control of shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators.
8. Modulation techniques and its application to control of SMA actuators
   • Pulse width modulation (PWM)
   • Pulse width pulse frequency (PWPF) modulation
9. Introduction neural network based control and its application to control of SMA.
10. Applications of the control of SMA actuators.
    • Active control of adaptive engine intake
    • Active control of model airplane flap
11. Vibration reduction using command input shaping (CIS)
12. Vibration reduction of a spacecraft simulation using CIS and PWPF
13. Vibration control using MR fluids
14. Passive vibration control using piezoelectric materials
15. Active vibration control using piezoelectric materials
16. Optimal control and its application to vibration reduction.