Design and Optimization of Crossbar Architectures for Shape Memory Alloy Actuator Arrays

This paper considers the use of crossbar architectures to control a large number of actuators in a compact, low-cost and scalable sense. A high-density actuator array of touch stimulating pins actuated by shape memory alloys (SMAs) is controlled using a reduced number of control circuitry. In general, the proposed architecture is capable of driving an array of 2N² actuators with only 3N control elements. Our preliminary prototype is an 8 x 8 pin matrix tactile display for the blind which consists of 128 actuators driven by only 24 switches. Several practical features of crossbar structures are discussed and an optimized method for scheduling the crossbar shared resources is presented to improve the overall performance