Continuous-time model identification from sampled data: implementation issues and performance evaluation

This paper deals with equation error methods that fit continuous-time transfer function models to discrete-time data recently included in the CONTSID (CONtinuous-Time System IDentification) Matlab toolbox. An overview of the methods is first given where implementation issues are highlighted. The performances of the methods are then evaluated on simulated examples by Monte Carlo simulations. The experiments have been carried out to study the sensitivity of each approach to the design parameters, sampling period, signal-to-noise ratio, noise power spectral density and type of input signal. The effectiveness of the CONTSID toolbox techniques is also briefly compared with indirect methods in which discrete-time models are first estimated and then transformed into continuous-time models. The paper does not consider iterative or recursive algorithms for continuous-time transfer function model identification.