High-Speed Track Access Technique Based on Model Following Control for Disk Drives

This article discribes a model following control system enabling disk drives to achieve high-speed track access. In this kind of control system, a prediction from a model plays an important role in reducing access time. We propose a new reference model based on a numerical model of the VCM (voice coil motor) used as the disk drive actuator. Taking the VCM actuator dynamics into account, the reference model generates a reference trajectory to achieve high-speed head positioning. Simulation and experimental results for a typical hard disk drive indicate the validity of the proposed method.