System Identification

This chapter focuses on the basics of identification techniques for the instrumentation and measurement society, including the predictive capabilities of the models, the physical interpretation of the parameters, and a quality stamp through the computation of parameter uncertainties and model validation. It gives an educative introduction in system identification using a simple example which covers a lot of system identification aspects and positions these aspects in an instrumentation and measurement framework. The examples are worked out in the same systematic way to stress the different choices in identification. The strength of system identification in instrumentation and measurements are illustrated using a voltage divider circuit. The chapter provides some initial directions to state some typical problems and to help the reader in finding some starting literature. It contains a short overview of identification in instrumentation and measurements concerning dynamic linear time-invariant (LTI) systems, nonlinear systems, sine fitting, and calibration/compensation techniques.