Automating data-driven modelling of dynamical systems: an evolutionary computation approach

This book describes a user-friendly, evolutionary algorithms-based framework for estimating data-driven models for a wide class of dynamical systems, including linear and nonlinear ones. The methodology addresses the problem of automating the process of estimating data-driven models from a user’s perspective. By combining elementary building blocks, it learns the dynamic relations governing the system from data, giving model estimates with various trade-offs, e.g. between complexity and accuracy. The evaluation of the method on a set of academic, benchmark and real-word problems is reported in detail. Overall, the book offers a state-of-the-art review on the problem of nonlinear model estimation and automated model selection for dynamical systems, reporting on a significant scientific advance that will pave the way to increasing automation in system identification.