Novel Unbiased Optimal Receding-Horizon Fixed-Lag Smoothers for Linear Discrete Time-Varying Systems

Abstract

This paper proposes novel unbiased minimum-variance receding-horizon fixed-lag (UMVRHF) smoothers in batch and recursive forms for linear discrete time-varying state space models in order to improve the computational efficiency and the estimation performance of receding-horizon fixed-lag (RHF) smoothers. First, an UMVRHF smoother in batch form is proposed by combining independent receding-horizon local estimators for two separated sub-horizons. The local estimates and their error covariance matrices are obtained based on an optimal receding horizon filter and the smoother in terms of the unbiased minimum variance; they are then optimally combined using Millman’s theorem. Next, the recursive form of the proposed UMVRHF smoother is derived to improve its computational efficiency and extendibility. Additionally, we introduce a method for extending the proposed recursive smoothing algorithm to a posteriori state estimations and propose the Rauch–Tung–Striebel receding-horizon fixed-lag smoother in recursive form. Furthermore, a computational complexity reduction technique that periodically switches the two proposed recursive smoothing algorithms is proposed. The performance and effectiveness of the proposed smoothers are demonstrated by comparing their estimation results with those of previous algorithms for Kalman and receding-horizon fixed-lag smoothers via numerical experiments.