Evolutionary based Optimization Techniques for Compensating Disturbances in R/W Head Positioning System of Hard Disk Drives

Nowadays, a huge amount of digital data is being exchanged through many network channels. As a result, there is an imminent demand to increase the storage size of data servers used in industrial and technological applications. Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) are the main recording devices used in internet and communication applications, and they are deployed in large quantities in data centers to accommodate large-scale digital data. As the storage size of HDDs becomes larger and denser, the need to further improve the head positioning control system in HDDs is required. As such, the precise accuracy of tracking systems in modern HDDs is met with challenges that have to be tackled. This paper proposes an evolutionary-based optimization technique to tune the PID controller of the magnetic head positioning control system in modern HDDs while minimizing the position error signal. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the optimally tuned PID compared to conventional techniques.