The Ibrahim time domain (ITD) identification technique was one of the first techniques formulated for multiple output modal analysis based on impulse response functions or general free decays. However, the technique has not been used much in recent decades due to the fact that the technique was originally formulated for single input systems that suffer from well-known problems in case of closely spaced modes. In this paper, a known, but more modern formulation of the ITD technique is discussed. In this formulation the technique becomes multiple input by adding some Toeplitz matrices over a set of free decays. It is shown that a special participation matrix can be defined that cancels out whenever the system matrix is estimated. The participation matrix becomes rank deficient if a mode is missing in the responses, but if any mode is present in one of the considered free decays, the participation matrix has full rank. This secures that all modes will be contained in the estimated system matrix. Finally, it is discussed how correlation functions estimated from the operational responses of structures can be used as free decays for the multiple-input ITD formulation, and the estimation errors of the identification technique are investigated in a simulation study with closely spaced modes. The simulation study shows that the multiple-input formulation provides estimates with significantly smaller errors on both mode shape and natural frequency estimates.
