Moving target tracking in marine aerosol environment with single photon lidar system

Abstract

The track of moving target by single photon lidar (SPL) is investigated in marine aerosol environment. The aerosol-induced clutter severely limits the detection performance of SPL. Conventional time-correlated single-photon counting histogram threshold method can only detect static targets. We introduced track algorithm to deal with the discrete scattering point signal of SPL. Furthermore, a two-stage (TS) dynamic model with an adaptive strong Kalman filter was proposed in SPL tracking technique. The proposed method, referred to TS-SKF, has a better performance than the current statistical model with Kalman filter (KF) and the TS model with KF in simulated marine aerosol environment. Finally, a series of field experiments were conducted with a self-established SPL system to track the moving cargo ships over the sea at Qingdao (35.9°N, 120.3°E), China. Both the moving and static targets can be effectively detected with the TS-SKF method. The results show that the proposed real-time processing algorithm can provide a new sight to promote the practical application of SPL.