This research presents an investigation into the development of real time system identification using intelligent algorithms. A simulation platform of a flexible beam vibration using finite difference (FD) method is used to demonstrate the real time capabilities of the identification algorithms. A number of approaches and algorithms for on line system identifications are explored and evaluated to demonstrate the merits of the algorithms for real time implementation. These approaches include identification using (a) traditional recursive least square (RLS) filter, (b) Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and (c) adaptive Neuro_Fuzzy (ANFIS) model. The above algorithms are used to estimate a linear discrete second order model for the flexible beam vibration. The model is implemented, tested and validated to evaluate and demonstrate the merits of the algorithms for real time system identification. Finally, a comparative performance of error convergence and real time computational complexity of the algorithms is presented and discussed through a set of experiments.