A personal view of the development of system identification: A 30-year journey through an exciting field

In this article the author describes the development of system identification in the control community as he has observed it over the last 30 years, both as a student of the subject eager to learn and understand the work of his colleagues and as an active participant in these developments. This article attempts to exhibit both the continuity and the motivation for developments in system identification in the last 30 years and also the significant new departures and insights that came as the result of some important breakthroughs