Optimum choice of moving sensor trajectories for distributed-parameter system identification

The problem is considered of the optimal choice of moving sensor trajectories from the viewpoint of distributed-parameter system identification accuracy. The determinant of the information matrix of parameter estimates is taken as a measure of identification accuracy. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the trajectories to be optimal are derived. It is shown that the optimum trajectories can be found by solving a sequence of optimal sensor allocation problems. A number of examples illustrates the proposed approach.