Conventional active vibration control methodologies predominantly focus on achieving performance improvement relative to open-loop systems, rather than exploring the inherent performance boundaries imposed by physical constraints, system structures, and actuation/sensing limitations. To overcome these drawbacks, performance-limit oriented active control of vibration has emerged as a systematic design framework that aims at revealing and approaching the theoretical performance boundaries. This paper presents an overview of performance-limit oriented active vibration control from past developments, current advances, and future perspectives. Specifically, a major development in the field has been established with a “visualization technique” where performance limits can be readily determined solely based on visual inspection, yet resolving fundamental issues as existence, optimality, and performance limits of controllers, as well as evaluating the influence of constraints on optimal solutions. New developments are suggested for extensions to high-order heterogeneous complex networks, and particularly to adaptive and intelligent solutions, which enable online performance limit tracking, data-driven boundary estimation, and thus enhance robustness against uncertainties and nonlinearities. Future directions are prospected toward nonlinear performance-limit analysis and real-time computational methods under extreme conditions, and wider applications in high-end manufacturing, aerospace, and military equipment. This paper is expected to promote the in-depth development and engineering popularization of performance-limit oriented control theory and technology.
- Open Access
- Perspective
Performance-Limit Oriented Active Control of Vibration: Past, Present & Future Perspectives
Author Information
Received: 23 Mar 2026 | Revised: 22 Sep 2026 | Accepted: 24 Sep 2026 | Published: 19 Oct 2026
Abstract
Keywords
active vibration control | performance limit | energy transfer
References
- 1.
Palazzolo, A.B. Vibration Theory and Applications with Finite Elements and Active Vibration Control; John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118403921.
- 2.
Preumont, A. Vibration Control of Active Structures: An Introduction; Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2033-6.
- 3.
Du, C.; Xie, L. Modeling and Control of Vibration in Mechanical Systems; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, USA, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781439817995.
- 4.
Fuller, C.R.; Elliott, S.J.; Nelson, P.A. Active Control of Vibration, 1st ed.; Academic Press: London, UK, 1996.
- 5.
Liu, C.; Jing, X.; Daley, S.; et al. Recent advances in micro-vibration isolation. Mech. Syst. Signal Process. 2015, 56–57, 55–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2014.10.007.
- 6.
Wang, J. Active Vibration & Noise Control: Design towards Performance Limit (A New Paradigm to Active Control); Springer Nature Singapore: Singapore, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4116-0.
- 7.
Liu, Y.; Wen, J.; Luan, X.; et al. Finite-frequency output feedback MPC for Markov jump systems. Asian J. Control 2023, 25, 3119–3130. https://doi.org/10.1002/asjc.3024.
- 8.
Han, G.; Ma, H.; Liu, Y.; et al. Model-free finite frequency H∞ control for active chatter suppression in turning. J. Sound Vib. 2024, 577, 118342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2024.118342.
- 9.
Sun, W.; Gao, H.; Kaynak, O. Finite Frequency H∞ Control for Vehicle Active Suspension Systems. IEEE Trans. Control Syst. Technol. 2011, 19, 416–422. https://doi.org/10.1109/tcst.2010.2042296.
- 10.
Landau, I.D.; Airimițoaie, T.B.; Castellanos-Silva, A.; et al. Adaptive and Robust Active Vibration Control: Methodology and Tests; Springer International Publishing: Cham, Switzerland, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41450-8.
- 11.
Skogestad, S.; Postlethwaite, I. Multivariable Feedback Control: Analysis and Design; John Wiley & Sons: New York, NY, USA, 1996.
- 12.
Iwasaki, T.; Hara, S. Generalized KYP lemma: Unified frequency domain inequalities with design applications. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2005, 50, 41–59. https://doi.org/10.1109/tac.2004.840475.
- 13.
Li, X.; Gao, H. A Heuristic Approach to Static Output-Feedback Controller Synthesis with Restricted Frequency-Domain Specifications. IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2014, 59, 1008–1014. https://doi.org/10.1109/tac.2013.2281472.
- 14.
Li, Q.; Chen, Z.; Song, H.; et al. Finite frequency H∞ control of discrete linear parameter-varying systems. J. Vib. Control 2026, 32, 2341–2360. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775463251325595.
- 15.
Wang, J. Optimal Design for Energy Harvesting Vibration Absorbers. J. Dyn. Syst. Meas. Control 2021, 143, 051008. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4049235.
- 16.
Wang, J. Active damping control for vibration absorbers with energy harvesting consideration. Eur. J. Mech. A Solids 2025, 109, 105467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euromechsol.2024.105467.
- 17.
Wang, J.; Hu, Z. Optimization Design for Zero-Stiffness Vibration Absorbers, China. 201910639844.3, 16 July 2019.
- 18.
Wang, J. A New Vibration Absorber Design Method, China. 201710628133.7, 28 July 2017.
- 19.
Wang, J.; Ouyang, H. Disturbance attenuation over a frequency band: A multi-harmonics geometric design approach. J. Sound Vib. 2025, 614, 119204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2025.119204.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Suite 4002 Level 4, 447 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
General Inquiries: info@sciltp.com