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A fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor has at least four coil elements constrained in a stator case. A drive plate is supported by a fulcrum for nutating motion and has at least four core segments each associated with a respective one of the at least four coil elements for attraction upo

A fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor has at least four coil elements constrained in a stator case. A drive plate is supported by a fulcrum for nutating motion and has at least four core segments each associated with a respective one of the at least four coil elements for attraction upon activation. A control processor provides independent current control to each of the at least four coil elements for activation responsive to a received position command and a received wobble angle input, inducing the at least four coil elements to operate in a pure torque sum configuration upon the drive plate.

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1. A fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor comprising: at least five coil elements constrained in a stator case;a drive plate supported by a fulcrum for nutating motion and having at least five core segments each associated with a respective one of the at least five coil elements for attr

1. A fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor comprising: at least five coil elements constrained in a stator case;a drive plate supported by a fulcrum for nutating motion and having at least five core segments each associated with a respective one of the at least five coil elements for attraction upon activation; and,a control processor providing independent current control to each of the at least five coil elements for activation responsive to a received position command and a received wobble angle input, said at least five coil elements operating in a pure torque sum configuration upon the drive plate. 2. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 1 wherein each coil element comprises: a stationary core; and,a coil operatively associated with the stationary core for magnetization of the core upon introduction of current in the coil. 3. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 1 wherein the drive plate incorporates an outer pericyclic gear and an inner pericyclic gear and further comprising: a reaction plate having a reaction pericyclic gear adapted for mating engagement of the outer pericyclic gear; and,a drive plate have a drive pericyclic gear adapted for mating engagement of the inner pericyclic gear. 4. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 3 further comprising: a case connected to the reaction plate and having a stationary connection for attachment to a structure; and,a rotation flange attached to the drive plate, said rotation flange adapted for connection to an actuating element. 5. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 4 further comprising a bushing adapted to rotatably support the drive plate in the case. 6. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 1 further comprising at least two position sensors providing the wobble angle input to the control processor. 7. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 6 wherein the at least two position sensor comprises six position sensors. 8. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 1 wherein the at least five coil elements comprise six coil elements and the at least five core segments comprise six core segments. 9. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 1 further comprising a permanent magnet associated with each of the at least five coil elements. 10. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 1 wherein said control processor includes programmed software modules to determine current actuator position based on wobble angle, and determine a torque command required to rotate the drive plate from a current position to a desired position based on the received position command. 11. An aircraft control surface system comprising: an aerodynamic surface;a fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor having at least five coil elements constrained in a stator case;a drive plate supported by a fulcrum for nutating motion and having at least five core segments each associated with a respective one of the at least five coil elements for attraction upon activation;a rotation flange attached to the drive plate, said rotation flange adapted for connection to an actuating element associated with the aerodynamic surface; and,a control processor providing independent current control to each of the at least five coil elements for activation responsive to a received position command and a received wobble angle input, said at least five coil elements operating in a pure torque sum configuration upon the drive plate. 12. The aircraft control surface system as defined in claim 11 wherein the drive plate incorporates an outer pericyclic gear and an inner pericyclic gear and further comprising: a reaction plate having a reaction pericyclic gear adapted for mating engagement of the outer pericyclic gear;the drive plate having a drive pericyclic gear adapted for mating engagement of the inner pericyclic gear; and,a case enclosing the drive plate, coil elements and reaction plate, the case connected to the reaction plate and having a stationary connection for attachment to a structure. 13. The aircraft control surface system as defined in claim 11 further comprising a bushing adapted to rotatably support the drive plate in the case. 14. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 11 further comprising at least two position sensors providing the wobble angle input to the control processor. 15. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 14 wherein the at least two position sensors comprises six position sensors. 16. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 11 wherein the at least five coil elements comprise six coil elements and the at least five core segments comprise six core segments. 17. The fault tolerant virtual elliptical electric motor as defined in claim 11 further comprising a permanent magnet associated with each of the at least five coil elements. 18. A method for controlling an actuator comprising: receiving a position command;determining a wobble angle of a nutational drive plate mounted on a fulcrum; and,sequentially controlling current to at least three of a plurality of at least five stationary coil elements to attract associated core segments in the drive plate inducing nutation of the drive plate to achieve a wobble angle consistent with the received position command. 19. The method for control of an actuator as defined in claim 18 wherein the step of sequentially controlling current includes adjusting current in each coil to achieve a calculated wobble angle change with respect to a sector associated with that coil, said current adjustment independent of current control to any other coil element. 20. The method for control of an actuator as defined in claim 18 wherein the plurality of at least five stationary coil elements comprises a first set of three coil elements spaced at 120° and a second set of three coil elements, each coil in the second set intermediate two coils in the first set, and further comprising: identifying a failed coil;removing control power to the first set of three coils containing the failed coil; and,increasing current to the second set of coils by a factor of 1.7.