Distributed GGIW-CPHD-Based Extended Target Tracking Over a Sensor Network

Abstract

Multiple extended target tracking (METT) is a common and challenging problem. Various solutions for METT have been proposed, however, most of them focus on the single-sensor or centralized multi-sensor scenarios. In this letter, we explore the multi-sensor METT problem in a distributed fusion framework. Specifically, there are two stages in the implementation process: 1) to perform a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Gamma Gaussian Inverse Wishart Cardinalized Probability Hypothesis Density</i> (GGIW-CPHD) filter for each sensor node, and 2) to perform a fusion by resorting to the so-called <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Generalized Covariance Intersection</i> (GCI) fusion rule. In the fusion stage, we derive an approximate GGIW mixture form of the fused spatial density. Lastly, simulation experiments via a consensus sensor network are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.