Polynomic Nonlinear Dynamical Systems: A Residual Sensitivity Method for Model Reduction

The motivation for using polynomic combinations of system states and inputs to model nonlinear dynamical system is founded upon the classical theories of analysis and function representation. A feature of such representations is the need to make available all possible monomials in these variables, up to the degree specified, so as to provide for the description of widely varying functions within a broad class. For a particular application, however, certain monomials may be quite superfluous. This paper examines the possibility of removing monomials from the model in accordance with the level of sensitivity displayed by the residuals to their absence. Critical in these studies is the effect of system input excitation, and the effect of discarding monomial terms, upon the model parameter set. Therefore, model reduction is approached iteratively, with inputs re-designed at each iteration to ensure sufficient excitation of remaining monomials for parameter approximation. Examples are reported to illustrate the performance of such model reduction approaches.