Background The van der Pol equation is a 2ndâ€order ODE that describes selfâ€sustaining oscillations in which energy is withdrawn from large oscillations and fed into the small oscillations. This equation typically models electronic circuits containing vacuum tubes. The van der Pol equation is: d𑦠dð‘¡ðœ‡1ð‘¦d𑦠dð‘¡ð‘¦0 where 𑦠represents the position coordinate, ð‘¡ is time, and 𜇠is a damping coefficient.