Weighted distance-based m/n track initiation methods for wireless sensor networks in clutter

Abstract

This paper aims at improving the performance of the track initiation process of a target tracking system in cluttered environments via weighted distance-based M out of N (M/N) track initiation methods. In the generic M/N method, the consecutive detections inside the validation gate are considered with identical weights (M is increased by one) regardless of the location of the detection. However, if the newly detected observations in the validation gate are away from the center of the predicted target position, the observations may not come from a real target, the origin of the measurement may be the clutter. Thus, the initiation counter weight of the observation should be adjusted according to the distance measure while utilizing the M/N method for the track initiation decision. We envisage different weighting schemes to determine the initiation counter weighting value. Consequently, the elliptical weighting scheme in M/N track initiation method shows promising results for cluttered environments in terms of decreasing the false track initiations while sustaining an admissible level of true track initiations.