Co-Design of a MEMS Actuator and Its Controller Using Frequency Constraints

A MEMS actuator and its controller are jointly optimized, both sequentially and simultaneously. The sequential problem is formulated to account for controllability by means of a constraint on the actuator’s natural frequency. By varying the frequency constraint, sequential optimization generates a set of designs with significantly increased displacement, compared to the original non-optimized design, and with various settling times. In simultaneous optimization, a non-linearly weighted objective function combines the two objectives, and the relative weights are varied. The tradeoff between the two objectives shows that the use of the frequency constraint serves as an effective surrogate for controllability of the actuator.