A Novel Robust Nonlinear Kalman Filter Based on Multivariate Laplace Distribution

Abstract

In this brief, we investigate the robust state estimation of nonlinear systems with heavy-tailed noise. Based on the fact that the multivariate Laplace (ML) distribution has heavier tails than Gaussian distribution but is only determined by its mean and covariance, we utilize the ML distribution to model the heavy-tailed measurement noise. Based on the Gaussian mixture form of ML distribution, the system state and the covariance of ML distribution are inferred by variational Bayesian method, and then a closed recursive robust nonlinear Kalman filter is obtained with the nonlinear integrations calculated by numerical integration methods. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is insensitive to its free parameters and can obtain better estimation accuracy than related robust algorithms.