Target tracking for multistatic radar with transmitter uncertainty

Abstract

We present a target tracking system for a specific sort of passive radar, that using a Digital Audio/Video Broadcast (DAB/DVB) network for illuminators of opportunity. The system can measure bi-static range and range-rate. Angular information is assumed here unavailable. The DAB/DVB network operates in a single frequency mode; this means the same data stream is broadcast from multiple senders in the same frequency band. This supplies multiple measurements of each target using just one receiver, but introduces an additional ambiguity, as the signals from each sender are indistinguishable. This leads to a significant data association problem: as well as the usual target/measurement uncertainty there is additional "list" of illuminators that must be contended with. Our intention is to provide tracks directly in the geographic space, as opposed to a two-step procedure of formation of tracks in (bi-static) range and range-rate space to fuse these onto a map. We offer two solutions: one employing joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) based on an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), and the other a particle filter. For the former, we explain a "super-target" approach to bring what might otherwise be a three-dimensional assignment list down to the two dimensions the JPDAF needs. The latter approach would seem prohibitive in computation even with these; as such, we discuss the use of a PMHT-like measurement model that greatly reduces the numerical load.