Abstract-Numerical aspects are of central importance in identification and control. Many computations in these fields involve approximations using polynomial or rational functions that are obtained using orthogonal or oblique projections. The aim of this paper is to develop a new and general theoretical framework to solve a large class of relevant problems. The proposed method is built on the introduction of bi-orthonormal polynomials with respect to a data-dependent bi-linear form. This bi-linear form generalises the conventional inner product and allows for asymmetric and indefinite problems. The proposed approach is shown to lead to optimal numerical conditioning (κ = 1) in a recent frequency-domain instrumental variable system identification algorithm. In comparison, it is shown that these recent algorithms exhibit extremely poor numerical properties when solved using traditional approaches.
I. INTRODUCTIONApplications of system identification and control often involve numerical computations. The accuracy of these computations determines the quality of the resulting model or controller. This has led to considerable research to develop numerically reliable algorithms, see, e.g., [38] and [8], [4] for a general overview. Many computations involve weighted least-squares type problems for systems that are parametrized in terms of (vector) polynomials or rational forms, where orthogonal or oblique projections play a central role.In the field of system identification, weighted nonlinear least-squares criteria are particularly common, see [29]. Established identification algorithms include [26], the SK-iteration [34], and the Gauss-Newton iteration [1], which (iteratively) compute the least-squares solution to a linear systems of equations, for polynomial models or rational parametrizations. Although conceptually straightforward, the associated numerical conditioning is often extremely poor, as is evidenced by the developments in [1 , a fundamentally different solution strategy is pursued. The strategy is based upon the construction of orthogonal polynomials with respect to a data-dependent inner product, which directly provides the solution to the approximation problem in terms of polynomials. Essentially, this yields optimal conditioning of the associated linear system of equations, i.e., κ = 1.Besides developments in view of reliable algorithms that involve least-squares type solutions, recently, more general