Measuring nonlinear distortions: from test case to an F-16 Fighter

What are the similarities and differences between the behavior of a small vibrating test system and an F-16 fighter? To find it out, we compare measurements of the test system to measurements from the bolted connection of the wing and the missile of a F-16 Fighter Falcon from the Belgian air force. These measurements were done during a ground vehicle test (GVT) campaign. Essentially, the behavior of these systems match, even though the test system is only the heart of a self-study kit for nonlinear system identification and the F-16 is a complex real life mechanical structure. This clearly shows the added value of an experiment driven nonlinear educational system identification package. It provides safe small-scale toy examples for hands-on excersises that react like real systems. We believe that this practical approach lowers the gap between learning system identification concepts and applying it on real systems.