We propose an online variational inference framework for joint parameter-state estimation in nonlinear systems. This approach provides a probabilistic estimate of both parameters and states, and does so without relying on a mean-field assumption of independence of the two. The proposed method leverages a factorized form of the target posterior distribution to enable an effective pairing of variational inference for the marginal posterior of parameters with conditional Gaussian filtering for the conditional posterior of the states. This factorization is retrained at every time-step via formulation that combines variational inference and regression. The effectiveness of the framework is demonstrated through applications to two example systems, where it outperforms both the joint Unscented Kalman Filter and Bootstrap Particle Filter parameter-state augmentation in numerical experiments.
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Variational System Identification of Aircraft
Variational system identification is a new formulation of maximum likelihood for estimation of parameters of dynamical systems subject to process and measurement noise, such as aircraft flying in turbulence. This formulation is an alternative to the filter-error method that circumvents the solution of a Riccati equation and does not have problems with unstable predictors. In this paper, variational system identification is demonstrated for estimating aircraft parameters from real flight-test data. The results show that, in real applications of practical interest, it has better convergence properties than the filter-error method, reaching the optimum even when null initial guesses are used for all parameters and decision variables. This paper also presents the theory behind the method and practical recommendations for its use.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2117575
- PAR ID:
- 10566307
- Publisher / Repository:
- AIAA SCITECH 2025 Forum
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- AIAA journal
- ISSN:
- 0001-1452
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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