Smart/intelligent systems is a primary technology for present and future applications in areas ranging from everyday life to aerospace missions, from civil to military environments, from robots to information technology. Smart materials are the critical foundation for high-performance smart devices, and smart devices are fundamental components for smart systems. The three cannot be separated. This book bridges the fields of smart materials, sensing and actuating devices, and intelligent systems, and provides an opportunity for researchers from all three arenas to channel information into a coherent, interdisciplinary community. Topics include: piezoelectric actuators; novel devices and systems; shape memory alloys and magnetostrictive devices; nanometer-scale processing and properties; piezoelectric materials; sensor materials and devices; and electroactive polymer actuators.

Smart/intelligent systems is a primary technology for present and future applications in areas ranging from everyday life to aerospace missions, from civil to military environments, from robots to information technology. Smart materials are the critical foundation for high-performance smart devices, and smart devices are fundamental components for smart systems. The three cannot be separated. This book bridges the fields of smart materials, sensing and actuating devices, and intelligent systems, and provides an opportunity for researchers from all three arenas to channel information into a coherent, interdisciplinary community. Topics include: piezoelectric actuators; novel devices and systems; shape memory alloys and magnetostrictive devices; nanometer-scale processing and properties; piezoelectric materials; sensor materials and devices; and electroactive polymer actuators.

Smart systems can both sense a change in the environment and respond to that change in a useful way. Central to the operation of smart systems are materials that can serve as sensors and actuators: shape-memory, piezoelectric, and magnetostrictive materials, to name but a few. This book addresses materials issues related to smart systems including: shape-memory alloys and their applications; magnetostrictive materials and their applications; piezoelectric sensors and actuators; electrically/magnetically actuated materials; thin-film sensors; optical systems; damping materials; novel materials and mechanisms; and characterization and modelling. Papers on alternative sensing and actuating mechanisms are featured. Materials for gas sensors, electrochromic devices, magnetorheological fluids and thermoplastic elastomers are described.