Using horizon estimation and nonlinear optimization for grey-box identification

An established method for grey-box identification is to use maximum-likelihood estimation for the nonlinear case implemented via extended Kalman filtering. In applications of (nonlinear) model predictive control a more and more common approach for the state estimation is to use moving horizon estimation, which employs (nonlinear) optimization directly on a model for a whole batch of data. This paper shows that, in the linear case, horizon estimation may also be used for joint parameter estimation and state estimation, as long as a bias correction based on the Kalman filter is included. For the nonlinear case two special cases are presented where the bias correction can be determined without approximation. A procedure how to approximate the bias correction for general nonlinear systems is also outlined. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.