Dr. Gert Witvoet

Biography

Gert Witvoet is a part-time Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). His research interests focus on motion control for scientific applications, with motivation derived from activities in space, astronomy, and large science projects conducted in collaboration with TNO. Gert is responsible for teaching the course Control Engineering, which includes classical control theory, frequency response measurements, and feedback control design with feedforward control. He is also involved with the industrial Motion Control Tuning course from the Mechatronics Academy. His areas of expertise include advanced control technology and motion control, which are pivotal for future scientific discoveries. Gert obtained his MSc degree (with honors) in Mechanical Engineering from TU/e in 2007, for which he was awarded the 'Unilever Research Prize 2007'. He completed his PhD at TU/e in 2011, with a thesis titled “Feedback Control Injection Locking Sawtooth Oscillation in Fusion Plasmas.” This work was a collaborative project with FOM Rijnhuizen, now known as DIFFER, and received support from TNO Science and Industry. His research has been presented in various formats, earning him accolades such as the Junior Presentation Award at the 27th Benelux Meeting on Systems and Control in 2008. In addition to his role at TU/e, Gert has worked at TNO Technical Sciences as a control specialist in the Optomechatronics department since 2012, focusing on projects related to space (TROPOMI, LISA), astronomy (ELT M1SS PACT, Adaptive Optics), and lithography in Big Science contexts (ITER, QuTech). He is currently engaged in projects concerning free-space optical communication, working on control mechanisms for accurate pointing that enables high-speed communication over large distances, such as between ground and satellites, or between satellites.

Research Interests