Interactive System Identification: Prospects and Pitfalls

This book intends to provide users of identification software with the fundamental insight needed to carry out the interactive design of models of physical objects. The text begins with the fundamental conditions for setting up correct identification problems, continues by highlighting the roles of the validation and falsification of models, and concludes with concrete procedures for the interactive design of stochastic dynamic models. The book does not concentrate on the usual blackbox models. It emphasizes the purpose of the design and the importance of supplementing experimental data with the partial knowledge that is often available to the designer. The book also emphasizes the prospects and limitations of identification. It clarifies what can and cannot be inferred about the object under various circumstances, and, consequently, what kind of modelling errors the computer can and cannot diagnose.