Abstract
This paper addresses the issue of system identification and controller design for an active-head slider used to form a stable and reliable head-disk interface with a spacing of sub 3 nm. A new identification method is proposed to fit the highly non-stationary and highly nonlinear slider dynamics. The estimated model is then used for the design of a model based nonlinear controller to control the flying height within the desired range. The effectiveness of the proposed system identification method and the nonlinear controller is verified with simulation examples. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.