We designed a method to estimate the properties of the auroral generator from low-altitude observations of aurora. The method is based on a magnetosphere – ionosphere quasi-stationary coupling model, a parametric description of a magnetospheric interface generator and a minimization procedure that finds the generator model whose auroral effects best fit in-situ observations. The database includes the results of the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling model used to test the methodology. The method can be generalized to other types of generators and observables.