ABSTRACT
Interest in the application of microelectromechanicalsystems (MEMS) technology to flow control and diagnostics started around the early 1990s. During this relatively short time, there have been a handful attempts aimed at using the new technology to develop and implement reactive control of various flow phenomena. The ultimate goal of these attempts has been to capitalize on the unique ability of MEMS to integrate sensors, actuators, driving circuitry, and control hardware in order to attain autonomous active flow management. To date, however, there remains to be a demonstration of a fully functioning MEMS flow control system whereby the multitude of information gathered from a distributed MEMS sensor array is successfully processed in real time using on-chip electronics to produce an effective response by a distributed MEMS actuator array.
