Adaptive observer and controller for magnetic microactuators

Abstract

Flexural magnetic actuators can be used for actuation at small length scales in microfluidics applications. These actuators may be unstable in some region of operation. The actuators can be stabilized easily using model based controllers if the actuator is modeled accurately and model parameters are known. Estimating model parameters accurately from first principles or straightforward measurements is not feasible in practice. An adaptive observer-controller is presented here. The adaptive observer estimates the model parameters and system states and the indirect adaptive controller stabilizes the actuator in the unstable region and ensures trajectory tracking.