The stringent design requirement of aerospace systems has called for
the need of smart structures−systems with built-in sensor and actuator that can actively change their physical geometry and property to adapt to
operating condition. This paper presents a smart structure design with
built-in piezoelectric sensor/actuator and controller for dither excitation,vibration suppression, and shape control. Two smart structure specimens,an aluminum beam with surface bonded piezoelectric sensor/actuator and a glass fiber composite laminated beam with embedded piezoelectric sensor/actuator, are fabricated and tested. A controller driven by one 9VDC battery is developed as power supply, wave-form synthesizer, and power amplifier. It is shown experimentally that the smart structure of integrated sensor, actuator, and controller is effective to vibration control and shape control.