Radar Target Tracking Research Articles

Adaptive interacting multiple model particle filter based on a dual-pattern bat algorithm for maneuvering target tracking

The interacting multiple model particle filter (IMM-PF) is a filtering method commonly used for nonlinear non-Gaussian radar systems. Its transfer probabilities are usually fixed and dependent on prior information. When tracking maneuvering targets, the IMM-PF may cause excessive tracking errors due to the model switching lag. In addition, the particle impoverishment caused by the resampling of the particle filter seriously affects the filtering accuracy. Therefore, the IMM-PF has difficulty meeting the accuracy and speed requirements of modern high-performance radar target tracking systems. To address these problems, an adaptive interacting multiple model particle filter based on the dual-pattern bat algorithm (ADIMM-DPBA-PF) is proposed for tracking maneuvering targets under nonlinear and non-Gaussian conditions. First, the adaptive model switching mechanism is established to adjust the transition probabilities using the model probability posterior information at consecutive times, improving the model switching efficiency. Second, a particle filter based on the dual-pattern bat algorithm (DPBA-PF) is proposed. The filter exploits global search and local search strategies to optimize the particles and intelligently move the particles to the high likelihood region. Finally, a particle filter based on the dual-pattern bat algorithm is used to form the adaptive interacting multiple model method. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has better comprehensive performance than the IMM-PF.

A single-frequency Doppler radar target tracking method based on the IPSO algorithm

A single-frequency Doppler radar target tracking method based on the IPSO algorithm

Chaff jamming recognition and suppression based on semi‐realistic dataset and Pre‐Decluttering Dual‐Stage UNet

AbstractCountermeasures for chaff jamming have drawn great attention in the field of radar target detection and tracking. Current approaches for chaff jamming recognition and suppression exhibit limitations in practical effect, generalisation ability, and hybrid jamming handling. To address the above problems, the authors first transform the traditional 1D signal processing problem into a 2D semantic segmentation task and then solve it from the perspective of the dataset construction and algorithm design. For the dataset construction, the authors use both measured and simulated data to synthesise a more realistic labelled dataset (semi‐realistic dataset), which is also with good diversity due to its adjustable chaff interference background. For the algorithm design, the authors propose a Pre‐Decluttering Dual‐Stage UNet (D2UNet) to recognise and suppress chaff jamming in two stages successively, where the former provides prior attention masks for the latter. To further improve the performance of D2UNet, the authors also design a multi‐stage loss function to achieve progressive training. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that D2UNet delivers remarkable recognition accuracy (99.305%) and suppression performance (41.326 dB peak signal‐to‐jamming ratio, 0.9952 structure similarity index measure) on the semi‐realistic dataset. Its practical effect is further verified on measured data.

A Method to Track Moving Targets Using a Doppler Radar Based on Converted State Kalman Filtering

Strong nonlinearity between Doppler measurement and target motion in Doppler radar target tracking leads to the inadequate utilization of measurement information and limited tracking accuracy. We solved this problem by combining converted state Kalman filtering and the Interacting Multiple Model. This maneuvering target tracking method is suitable for Doppler measurement. First, we converted the target motion in the Cartesian coordinate to the polar coordinate. Then, we expanded the measurement equation to include Doppler measurement, making target motion linearly related to the Doppler radar observation vectors and allowing efficient utilization of measurement information. Next, we used unscented transformation to calculate the statistical characteristics of the process noise in the polar coordinate. This process helps to reduce the noise error caused by the coordinate system transformation in the original converted state Kalman filter. Finally, the system effectively tracks targets that may perform maneuvers with unknown motion during actual tracking. Using the converted state Kalman filter with Doppler measurement as a sub-filter, an Interacting Multiple Model tracking method can be constructed to adjust the model probabilities without going through nonlinear transformation. Simulation results show that the technique can achieve effective target tracking in Doppler measurement application scenarios and has higher tracking accuracy in non-maneuvering and maneuvering scenarios.

Multicomponent WVD Spectrogram Enhancement Algorithm for Indoor Through-Wall Radar Target Tracking

Multicomponent WVD Spectrogram Enhancement Algorithm for Indoor Through-Wall Radar Target Tracking

CoPreMo: A Collaborative Predictive Model in Time Series and Its Application to Radar Target Tracking for ADAS/AD Vehicles

CoPreMo: A Collaborative Predictive Model in Time Series and Its Application to Radar Target Tracking for ADAS/AD Vehicles

A Dynamic Model-Based Doppler-Adaptive Correlation Filter for Maritime Radar Target Tracking

A Dynamic Model-Based Doppler-Adaptive Correlation Filter for Maritime Radar Target Tracking

Grid Map Assisted Radar Target Tracking in a Detection Occluded Maritime Environment

Grid Map Assisted Radar Target Tracking in a Detection Occluded Maritime Environment

Forward Collision Warning Strategy Based on Millimeter-Wave Radar and Visual Fusion

Forward collision warning (FCW) is a critical technology to improve road safety and reduce traffic accidents. However, the existing multi-sensor fusion methods for FCW suffer from a high false alarm rate and missed alarm rate in complex weather and road environments. For these issues, this paper proposes a decision-level fusion collision warning strategy. The vision algorithm and radar tracking algorithm are improved in order to reduce the false alarm rate and omission rate of forward collision warning. Firstly, this paper proposes an information entropy-based memory index for an adaptive Kalman filter for radar target tracking that can adaptively adjust the noise model in a variety of complex environments. Then, for visual detection, the YOLOv5s model is enhanced in conjunction with the SKBAM (Selective Kernel and Bottleneck Attention Mechanism) designed in this paper to improve the accuracy of vehicle target detection. Finally, a decision-level fusion warning fusion strategy for millimeter-wave radar and vision fusion is proposed. The strategy effectively fuses the detection results of radar and vision and employs a minimum safe distance model to determine the potential danger ahead. Experiments are conducted under various weather and road conditions, and the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm reduces the false alarm rate by 11.619% and the missed alarm rate by 15.672% compared with the traditional algorithm.

A deep learning model based on transformer structure for radar tracking of maneuvering targets

The motion complexity of maneuvering target causes the estimation uncertainty of target motion model, resulting in state estimation error. Especially for strong maneuvering target, the drastic change of target motion models makes the tracking methods hard to adapt and provide accurate state estimation promptly. To solve the state estimation problem of strong maneuvering targets, we propose a new transformer maneuvering target tracking model based on deep learning, named TrMTT model. The TrMTT model uses a new residual mapping between the observation trajectory and the real trajectory to estimate the target states, and is composed of the encoder and decoder branches while the two have the same input of observation trajectory. The encoder extracts the self-attention information for the input at each layer while the decoder implements cross-attention extraction and fusion between features in different layers, thus providing more correlation information between states for learning the transition law of rapidly changing states. Moreover, we propose an input module before the encoder–decoder structure to code the state features of the observation trajectory, and apply two kinds of normalization layers in the input module and the encoder–decoder structure, to project the input into a feature space which facilitates extracting the correlation information between states. Simulation results show that the proposed TrMTT model is superior in performance for maneuvering target tracking compared with other existing approaches.

AIS aided marine radar target tracking in a detection occluded environment

Radar signal occlusion due to islands and large ships occurs frequently in maritime environments, degrading the performance of marine radar target detection and tracking. In order to address the common track breakages and tracking inaccuracies during occlusion, both prior environment knowledge from electronic navigation chart (ENC) and information from automatic identification systems (AIS) are exploited. An AIS-aided integrated probabilistic data association (A-IPDA) algorithm is proposed for maritime target tracking in an occluded environment. It recursively identifies target occlusion based on environmental knowledge and applies a tailored track existence probability transition matrix for track existence estimation during occlusion, meanwhile rich AIS information is exploited to maintain target tracking performance. Experiments based on both simulated data and real data show that A-IPDA has the ability to counter long period target occlusion in complex maritime environments, where track continuity and tracking accuracy can be well maintained.

Kalman filter based on intermediate transition state for radar target tracking with nonlinear measurements

Aiming at the nonlinear measurements problem of target tracking, a Kalman filter algorithm based on intermediate transition state (ITS-KF) is proposed in this paper. The new intermediate transition states are introduced in two- and three-dimension scenarios, and the derivations of state transition between the state in Cartesian coordinate and intermediate transition state in measurement coordinate are given. Based on the intermediate transition state, a new ITS-KF algorithm is proposed and the filtering process is given. For maneuvering target tracking case, ITS-KF is combined with the improved IMM (IIMM) and the ITS-KF-IIMM is given. The simulation results show that the tracking accuracy and consistency of the proposed algorithm is obviously improved compared with existing algorithms especially in the case of large angle measurement errors both in non-maneuvering and maneuvering case.

Weighted Maximum Correntropy Criterion-Based Interacting Multiple-Model Filter for Maneuvering Target Tracking

During the process of maneuvering target tracking, the measurement may be disturbed by outliers, which leads to a decrease in the state estimation performance of the classic interacting multiple-model (IMM) filter. To solve this problem, a weighted maximum correntropy criterion (WMCC)-based IMM filter is proposed. In the proposed filter, the fusion state is used as the input of each sub-model to reduce the computational complexity of state interaction and the WMCC is adopted to derive the sub-model state update and state fusion to improve the state estimation performance under outlier interference. Through principal analysis, the superiority of the proposed filter over the classic IMM filter in fusion strategy is revealed. The specific form of the proposed filter in radar maneuvering target tracking is provided. Two experimental cases of maneuvering target tracking are tested to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed filter.

Memory‐based deep reinforcement learning for cognitive radar target tracking waveform resource management

AbstractA cognitive radar (CR) system can offer enhanced target tracking performance due to its intelligence on the perception‐action cycle, wherein a CR adaptively allocates the limited transmitting resources based on its perception of surrounding environments. To effectively manage the transmit waveform resource for the target tracking task, CR resource management problem is formulated under the partially observable Markov decision process framework. The sequential decision‐making and the inherent partial observability for target tracking problem are considered. In the proposed method, a long short‐term memory (LSTM)‐based twin delayed deep deterministic policy gradient (TD3) algorithm is developed to effectively solve the problem. A reward function is designed considering Haykin's cognitive executive attention mechanism for radar systems such that the CR resource management policy has stability in the decision of transmit waveform, which follows the principle of minimum disturbance. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed LSTM memory‐based TD3 with improved target tracking performance and increased mean rewards for CR.

HDT network: A high‐resolution range profile multi‐target detection and tracking method based on neural network

AbstractIn radar target detection and tracking tasks, the detection algorithm and data association algorithm are the primary technologies. The accuracy of detection, stability of tracking and processing speed are the key points to accomplishing effective high‐resolution range profile (HRRP) multi‐target tracking (MTT). Classic HRRP target tracking algorithms conduct the detection by extracting handcraft features and conduct tracking based on the data association algorithm. With the development of neural network methods, deep learning methods have been widely applied in target detection and tracking. An HRRP detection and tracking (HDT) network based on neural networks is proposed, which includes three steps: Firstly, the HRRP signal is processed by a convolutional neural network detector to extract the feature of the origin signal and generate the detection measurement. Secondly, a predicted measurement is generated by a Kalman filter, which estimates the current state of the target based on its previous states and the detection measurement. Finally, the ReID network calculates the cosine similarity between the tracks and measurements to associate them and a linear sum assignment operation is used to match the tracks and measurements. By using the proposed algorithm, the HDT network is capable of detecting and tracking multiple targets in complex cluttered environments with high accuracy. Experimental results on an HRRP dataset collected by a moving radar platform show the outstanding performance of the HDT network, including detection accuracy, track integrity and real‐time MTT.

An improved dynamic programming tracking-before-detection algorithm based on LSTM network value function

The detection and tracking of small and weak maneuvering radar targets in complex electromagnetic environments is still a difficult problem to effectively solve. To address this problem, this paper proposes a dynamic programming tracking-before-detection method based on long short-term memory (LSTM) network value function(VL-DP-TBD). With the help of the estimated posterior probability provided by the designed LSTM network, the calculation of the posterior value function of the traditional DP-TBD algorithm can be more accurate, and the detection and tracking effect achieved for maneuvering small and weak targets is improved. Utilizing the LSTM network to model the posterior probability estimation of the target motion state, the posterior probability moving features of the maneuvering target can be learned from the noisy input data. By incorporating these posterior probability estimation values into the traditional DP-TBD algorithm, the accuracy and robustness of the calculation of the posterior value function can be enhanced, so that the improved architecture is capable of effectively recursively accumulating the movement trend of the target. Simulation results show that the improved architecture is able to effectively reduce the aggregation effect of a posterior value function and improve the detection and tracking ability for non-cooperative nonlinear maneuvering dim small target. Abbreviations LSTM: Long short-term memory; DP-TBD: Dynamic programming-based tracking before detection; DBT: Detection before tracking; TBD: Tracking before detection; HT-TBD: Tracking-before-detection algorithm based on the Hough transform; PF-TBD: Tracking-before-detection algorithm based on particle filtering; RFS-TBD: Tracking-before-detection algorithm based on random finite sets; SNR: Signal-to-noise ratio; DP: Dynamic programming; EVT: Extreme value theory; EVT: Generalized extreme value theory; GLRT: Generalized likelihood ratio detection; KT: Keystone transformation; PGA: Phase gradient autofocusing; CFAR: Constant false-alarm rate; J-CA-CFAR: Joint intensity-spatial CFAR; MF: Merit function; CP-DP-TBD: Candidate plot-based DP-TBD; CIT: Coherent integration time; RNN: Recurrent neural network; CS: Current statistical; Pd: Detection probability; Pt: Tracking probability.

Adaptive Channel Assignment for Maneuvering Target Tracking in Multistatic Passive Radar

In this paper, two adaptive channel assignment (CA) schemes are proposed for maneuvering target tracking (MTT) in multistatic passive radar. For a predetermined total number of channels w.r.t. each receiver, (a) the first scheme selects <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$</tex-math></inline-formula> channels to achieve the highest MTT accuracy; (b) the second scheme minimizes the number of channels while guaranteeing a required MTT performance. By utilizing the best-fitting Gaussian approximation, we derive the predicted conditional Cramér-Rao lower bound to evaluate the impact of CA on MTT performance, and formulate CA schemes as convex integer program problems, since channel variables are in binary form. The objective in the first CA problem is smooth, so we apply the <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$l_{2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> -box alternating direction method of multipliers to divide it into several simple subproblems and alternatively solve them in continuous domains without the introduction of relaxation error. The second CA problem may be infeasible when the required accuracy cannot be met with available channels. To tackle it, we introduce a linear rectification function w.r.t the performance constraint, and equivalently reformulate it as a feasible one. Then, a fast multi-start add-one-channel policy is designed to minimize the gap between the actual accuracy and the accuracy requirement. These algorithms offer considerable reductions in computational complexity compared with the branch and bound method and may achieve near-optimal performance. Simulation results demonstrate that these schemes can either achieve the highest MTT accuracy with <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$</tex-math></inline-formula> channels or reduce the number of channels while guaranteeing MTT performance, compared with the traditional random channel allocation scheme.

An improved dynamic programming tracking-before-detection algorithm based on LSTM network

The detection and tracking of small and weak maneuvering radar targets in complex electromagnetic environments is still a difficult problem to effectively solve. To address this problem, this paper proposes a dynamic programming tracking-before-detection method based on a long short-term memory (LSTM) network (LSTM-DP-TBD). With the predicted target motion state provided by the LSTM network, the state transition range of the traditional DP-TBD algorithm can be updated in real time, and the detection and tracking effect achieved for maneuvering small and weak targets is also improved. Utilizing the LSTM network to model the moving state of the target, the moving features of the maneuvering target can be learned from the noisy input data. By incorporating these features into the traditional DP-TBD algorithm, the state transition set can be adjusted in time with the changes in the moving state of the target so that the new algorithm is capable of effectively recursively accumulating the movement trend of the maneuvering small and weak target. Simulation results show that the new algorithm is able to effectively accomplish the task of detecting and tracking maneuvering small and weak targets, and it achieves improved detection and tracking probabilities.

Linear sequential filtering based on the debiased measurement matrix of the converted pseudo measurement for radar target tracking

For radar target tracking with nonlinear position and range rate measurements, a linear sequential filtering method based on the debiased measurement matrix of the converted pseudo measurement (DMM-LSF) is proposed. A novel and simple linear measurement matrix is constructed based on the relationship between the pseudo measurement and target's state vector. To estimate the involved unknown parameters in the measurement matrix, the filtering results from the linear position filter are utilized in the sequential linear filter, where a totally linear sequential filtering framework is formed. The measurement matrix estimation error is fully considered, which is incorporated into original converted pseudo measurement error and a new synthetical measurement error is formed. The statistic characteristics of the synthetical measurement error are deduced, resulting a debiased measurement matrix. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed DMM-LSF algorithm. Compared with existing algorithms, the proposed one can achieve the best tracking performance for non-maneuvering and maneuvering target tracking in different scenes.

Development of a Chaff Dispense Program for Target Tracking Radar Deception

This study aims to develop an appropriate chaff dispensing program to deceive the target tracking radar (TTR) effectively. Chaff is a countermeasure commonly used by fighter aircraft to deceive TTR. However, there has been a lack of methodology for calculating chaff dispense programs that take into account the specific characteristics of the fighter, chaff, and TTR. This study proposes a methodology that considers these variables to calculate chaff dispense programs and addresses this gap. The proposed method is demonstrated through TESS engagement, which shows its effectiveness in various engagement situations.