Bias Removal in Higher Order Sinusoidal Input Describing Functions

In this paper a novel method is presented for the reduction of bias caused by harmonic excitation in the identification of higher order sinusoidal input describing functions (HOSIDF). HOSIDF are a recently introduced generalization of the theory of the describing function. HOSIDF describe the magnitude and phase relations between the individual harmonic components in the output signal of a non-linear system and the sinusoidal excitation signal. In the presented method, the output signal of a non-linear system subjected to harmonic excitation is numerically split up into a fraction caused by the non-linear response due to the fundamental input signal component and the fraction caused by the quasi-linear response due to the harmonic input signal components. This separation is based on the assumption that the non-linear effects of intermodulation can be neglected, compared to the the effects caused by the generation of harmonics and gain compression/expansion. The method is demonstrated with real measurements on a mechanical system with friction.