Characteristics of Unknown Linear Systems Deduced from Measured CW Magnitude

A method is presented for predicting the total response, in both frequency and time, of an unknown linear system when only the measured continuous wave (cw) magnitude is available. The approach is based on approximating the square of the measured magnitude by a rational function, from which various system transfer functions in terms of complex frequency are deduced. These transfer functions may or may not be at minimum phase. The corresponding impulse response is then obtained by taking the inverse Laplace transform of the transfer function. The impulse response of the minimum-phase case rises faster initially to its first maximum than the nonminimum-phase counterparts. This result confirms that, for the same cw magnitude response, the accumulative energy contained in the impulse response is the greatest when the transfer function is at minimum phase. Physical meaning of the energy content is also discussed.