Minimum realizations and system modeling. I. Fundamental theory and algorithms

Abstract This review article surveys representative literature on minimum realizations and system modeling. This theory makes possible the construction of minimum size state‐space models directly from experimental input/output data. Theoretical developments, numerical algorithms, and the connection with other methods of identification of linear systems are covered. Partial minimum relaizations which are extensions of the concepts developed are also included. A numerical example illustrates many of the techniques.