Modelling and Control of Hysteresis Nonlinearities in Smart Actuators

4^th February 2026, 14:00 ALT
Wenjun Ye

Abstract

Smart actuators, characterised by high energy density, large stroke and rapid response, are increasingly important in micro- and nano-positioning applications. However, hysteresis nonlinearities are an inherent feature of actuators based on smart materials. For decades, these nonlinearities have represented one of the most challenging problems in control system design, as both Laplace-domain and most state-space control techniques were originally developed for differentiable linear or nonlinear systems. As a result, traditional controllers were often designed under the assumption that hysteresis effects in practical systems could be neglected.

When actuators exhibiting hysteresis are explicitly considered, conventional methods encounter substantial difficulties in analysis, model identification and control design. In many cases, the design of such systems, or the rigorous proof of their stability, has proved extremely difficult, if not impossible. Consequently, the development of techniques for identifying hysteresis nonlinearities in smart material-based actuators has emerged as a significant research challenge in its own right.

This talk will present and discuss state-of-the-art approaches to the modelling and control of hysteresis effects in smart actuators. The scope of the presentation will range from hysteresis modelling techniques to the design of appropriate control schemes, with particular emphasis on scenarios in which complete information about the system model and states is unavailable.