When identifying electrical, mechanical, or biological systems, parametric continuous-time identification methods can lead to interpretable and parsimonious models when the model structure aligns with the physical properties of the system. Traditional linear system identification may not consider the most parsimonious model when relying solely on unfactored transfer functions, which typically result from standard direct approaches. This paper presents a novel identification method that delivers additive models for both open and closed-loop setups. The estimators that are derived are shown to be generically consistent, and can admit the identification of marginally stable additive systems. Numerical simulations show the efficacy of the proposed approach, and its performance in identifying a modal representation of a flexible beam is verified using experimental data.

Online system identification algorithms are widely used for monitoring, diagnostics and control by continuously adapting to time-varying dynamics. Typically, these algorithms consider a model structure that lacks parsimony and offers limited physical interpretability. The objective of this paper is to develop a real-time parameter estimation algorithm aimed at identifying time-varying dynamics within an interpretable model structure. An additive model structure is adopted for this purpose, which offers enhanced parsimony and is shown to be particularly suitable for mechanical systems. The proposed approach integrates the recursive simplified refined instrumental variable method with block-coordinate descent to minimize an exponentially-weighted output error cost function. This novel recursive identification method delivers parametric continuous-time additive models and is applicable in both open-loop and closed-loop controlled systems. Its efficacy is shown using numerical simulations and is further validated using experimental data to detect the time-varying resonance dynamics of a flexible beam system. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for online and interpretable estimation for advanced monitoring and control applications.

The kernel-based inverse system identification framework enables accurate identification of systems with non-minimum phase dynamics, greatly expanding the potential of non-causal system identification approaches. The existing kernel-based inverse system identification method performs the estimation assuming noisy input data, while in practice noise is typically present only in the output measurements. To address this impracticality, we propose a Bayesian identification method that employs the Expectation-Maximization algorithm and the Markov chain Monte Carlo method to enable direct identification of the inverse system using the available data. Through numerical simulations, we found that the proposed method allows for an accurate estimation of inverse models, and outperforms an indirect approach in both model fit and variance. The proposed method can be used to develop enhanced data-driven feedforward control methods that allow for flexible design while incorporating design specifications.

Multivariable parametric models are critical for designing, controlling, and optimizing the performance of engineered systems. The main aim of this letter is to develop a parametric identification strategy that delivers accurate and physically relevant models of multivariable systems using time-domain data. The introduced approach adopts an additive model structure, providing a parsimonious and interpretable representation of many physical systems, and applies a refined instrumental variable-based estimation algorithm. The developed identification method enables the estimation of multivariable parametric additive models in continuous time and is applicable to both open- and closed-loop systems. The performance of the estimator is demonstrated through numerical simulations and experimentally validated on a flexible beam system.

Sampling in control applications is increasingly done non-equidistantly in time. This includes applications in motion control, networked control, resource-aware control, and event-based control. Some of these applications, like the ones where displacement is tracked using incremental encoders, are driven by signals that are only measured when their values cross fixed thresholds in the amplitude domain. This paper introduces a non-parametric estimator of the impulse response and transfer function of continuous-time systems based on such amplitude-equidistant sampling strategy, known as Lebesgue sampling. To this end, kernel methods are developed to formulate an algorithm that adequately takes into account the bounded output uncertainty between the event timestamps, which ultimately leads to more accurate models and more efficient output sampling compared to the equidistantly-sampled kernel-based approach. The efficacy of our proposed method is demonstrated through a mass–spring damper example with encoder measurements and extensive Monte Carlo simulation studies on system benchmarks.

Block coordinate descent is an optimization technique that is used for estimating multi-input single-output (MISO) continuous-time models, as well as single-input single output (SISO) models in additive form. Despite its widespread use in various optimization contexts, the statistical properties of block coordinate descent in continuous-time system identification have not been covered in the literature. The aim of this letter is to formally analyze the bias properties of the block coordinate descent approach for the identification of MISO and additive SISO systems. We characterize the asymptotic bias at each iteration, and provide sufficient conditions for the consistency of the estimator for each identification setting. The theoretical results are supported by simulation examples.

The sampling rate of input and output signals is known to play a critical role in the identification and control of dynamical systems. For slow-sampled continuous-time systems that do not satisfy the Nyquist-Shannon sampling condition for perfect signal reconstructability, careful consideration is required when identifying parametric and nonparametric models. In this letter, a comprehensive statistical analysis of estimators under slow sampling is performed. Necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for unbiased estimates of the frequency response function beyond the Nyquist frequency, and it is shown that consistency of parametric estimators can be achieved even if input frequencies overlap after aliasing. Monte Carlo simulations confirm the theoretical properties.

Blind system identification is aimed at finding parameters of a system model when the input is inaccessible. In this paper, we propose a blind system identification method that delivers a single-input single-output, continuous-time model in a nonparametric kernel form. We take advantage of the representer theorem to form a joint maximum a posteriori estimator of the input and system impulse response. The identified system model and input are optimised in sequence to overcome the blind problem with generalised cross validation used to select appropriate hyperparameters given some fixed input sequence. We demonstrate via Monte Carlo simulations the accuracy of the method in terms of estimating the input.

Control applications are increasingly sampled non-equidistantly in time, including in motion control, networked control, resource-aware control, and event-triggered control. Some of these applications use measurement devices that sample equidistantly in the amplitude domain. The aim of this paper is to develop a non-parametric estimator of the impulse response of continuous-time systems based on such sampling strategy, known as Lebesgue-sampling. To this end, kernel methods are developed to formulate an algorithm that adequately takes into account the output intersample behavior, which ultimately leads to more accurate models and more efficient output sampling compared to the standard approach. The efficacy of this method is demonstrated through a mass-spring damper case study.

Switched Reluctance Motors (SRMs) enable power-efficient actuation with mechanically simple designs. This paper aims to identify the nonlinear relationship between torque, rotor angle, and currents, to design commutation functions that minimize torque ripple in SRMs. This is achieved by conducting specific closed-loop experiments using purposely imperfect commutation functions and identifying the nonlinear dynamics via Bayesian estimation. A simulation example shows that the presented method is robust to position-dependent disturbances, and experiments suggest that the identification method enables the design of commutation functions that significantly increase performance. The developed approach enables accurate identification of the torque-current-angle relationship in SRMs, without the need for torque sensors, an accurate linear model, or an accurate model of position-dependent disturbances, making it easy to implement in production.