SME filter approach to multiple target tracking with radar measurements

Abstract

The symmetric measurement equation (SME) filter approach to track maintenance in multiple target tracking (MTT) is extended to the case when the position measurements are obtained from a radar. A key property of the SME filter is that there is no need to consider target/measurement associations to carry out target state estimation, which results in a substantial reduction in the computational complexity of the MTT problem. In the paper the SME filter is developed for the case of N targets moving in three-dimensional space whose motions consist of random perturbations about constant-velocity trajectories. It is assumed that noisy measurements of the spherical co-ordinate positions (ranges, elevation and azimuth angles) of the N targets are available. The work is focused on the case when the symmetric measurement equations are formed by taking sums of products of the Cartesian coordinate position measurements that are generated from the spherical co-ordinate position measurements. The performance of the SME filter is investigated by generating a computer simulation in the six-target case.