The identification of nonlinear biological systems: Volterra kernel approaches

Representation, identification, and modeling are investigated for nonlinear biomedical systems. We begin by considering the conditions under which a nonlinear system can be represented or accurately approximated by a Volterra series (or functional expansion). Next, we examine system identification through estimating the kernels in a Volterra functional expansion approximation for the system. A recent kernel estimation technique that has proved to be effective in a number of biomedical applications is investigated as to running time and demonstrated on both clean and noisy data records, then it is used to illustrate identification of cascades of alternating dynamic linear and static nonlinear systems, both single-input single-output and multivariable cascades. During the presentation, we critically examine some interesting biological applications of kernel estimation techniques.