Taylor-fourier series analysis for fractional order systems

Dynamical systems describing a physical process with a dominant diffusion phenomenon require a large dimensional model due to their long memory. Without prior knowledge, it is however not straightforward to know if/whether one deals with a fractional order system or long memory effects. Since the parametric modeling of a fractional system is very involved, we tackle the question whether fractional insight can be gathered in a non-parametric way. In this paper we show that the classical Fourier basis leading to the Frequency Response Function (FRF) lacks fractional insight. Therefore, we introduce a TaylorFourier basis to obtain non-parametric insight in the fractional system. This analysis proposes a novel type of spectrum to visualize the spectral content of a fractional system: the Taylor-Fourier spectrum.