A guide to the design and selection of perturbation signals

There are now many types of perturbation signal that can be used for system identification. These include signals with fixed power spectra, computer-optimized signals for which the user specifies the required harmonics, and hybrids of the two. With so many types now available, it is often difficult for the user to know how to select a signal that will be most appropriate for a particular application. In this paper, the authors provide a general guideline to this selection in a number of different experimental situations, giving the reasons for the particular selection.