Identification of the initial function for nonlinear delay differential equations

We consider a 'data assimilation problem' for nonlinear delay differential equations. Our problem is to find an initial function that gives rise to a solution of a given nonlinear delay differential equation, which is a close fit to observed data. A role for adjoint equations and fundamental solutions in the nonlinear case is established. A 'pseudo-Newton' method is presented. Our results extend those given by the authors in [2, 5] for the case of linear delay differential equations.