On the parameters estimation of continuous-time ARMA processes from noisy observations

Recently, an iterative algorithm has been presented for estimating the parameters of partially observed continuous-time processes [1]. In this note we concentrate on continuous-time ARMA processes observed in white noise. A maximum a-posteriori (MAP) estimator is defined for the trajectory of the parameters´ random process. This approach enables the MAP estimation of randomly slowly varying parameters, and extends the conventional treatment of time-invariant parameters. The iterative algorithm derived for the MAP estimation, increases the posterior probability of the parameters in each iteration, and converges to a stationary point of the posterior probability functional. Each iteration involves a standard linear smoother followed by a finite-dimensional linear system, and thus is easily implemented.