A laboratory experiment to teach closed-loop system identification

In this paper, a laboratory experiment, which was developed to teach undergraduate students at the University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, some of the main issues regarding closed-loop system identification, is discussed. In this experiment, a plant is identified both from open-loop and closed-loop data. The model obtained from the open-loop data is used as reference to evaluate a closed-loop system identification approach. A motivation for closed-loop system identification and a laboratory experiment in this field is given. The experiment is outlined, each step is discussed, and the experiment is evaluated. This experiment shows that closed-loop system identification can be taught in an uncomplicated manner.