Design of a practical tracking algorithm with radar measurements

The extended Kalman filter (EKF) has been widely used as a nonlinear filtering method for radar tracking problems. However, it has been found that if cross-range measurement errors of the target position are large, the performance of the conventional EKF degrades considerably due to nonnegligible nonlinear effects. A new filtering algorithm for improving the tracking performance with radar measurements is developed based on the fact that correct evaluation of the measurement error covariance is possible in the Cartesian coordinate system. The proposed algorithm may be viewed as a modification of the EKF in which the variance of the range measurement errors is evaluated in an adaptive manner. The filter structure facilitates the incorporation of the sequential measurement processing scheme, and this makes the resulting algorithm favorable to both estimation accuracy and computational efficiency. Computer simulation results show that the proposed method offers superior performance in comparison to previous methods. Moreover, our developed algorithm provides some useful insight into the radar tracking problem     

Tracking a ballistic target: comparison of several nonlinear filters

This paper studies the problem of tracking a ballistic object in the reentry phase by processing radar measurements. A suitable (highly nonlinear) model of target motion is developed and the theoretical Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLB) of estimation error are derived. The estimation performance (error mean and standard deviation; consistency test) of the following nonlinear filters is compared: the extended Kalman filter (EKF), the. statistical linearization, the particle filtering, and the unscented Kalman filter (UKF). The simulation results favor the EKF; it combines the statistical efficiency with a modest computational load. This conclusion is valid when the target ballistic coefficient is a priori known.     

Two-step optimal estimator for three dimensional target tracking

This study presents an adaptation of a novel estimation methodology to the general nonlinear three-dimensional problem of tracking a maneuvering target. The two-step optimal estimator (TSE) suggests an attractive alternative to the standard extended Kalman filter (EKF). A superior performance is accomplished by dividing the estimation problem into two steps: a linear first step and a nonlinear second step. The target tracking performance of the TSE is shown to be better than an EKF implemented in either inertial or modified spherical coordinates. In the passive case, where bearing/elevation angles only are measured, the TSE yields excellent range and target acceleration estimates. In the active case, where range measurement is available as well, a homing missile employing closed-loop optimal guidance based on the TSE state estimates obtains smaller miss distances than with either versions of the EKF.     

应用卡尔曼滤波的机载雷达跟踪系统

本文论述将滤波理论应用于机载雷达中对单个目标进行距离、速度、方位角和高低角跟踪的多环反馈系统。首先根据目标和天线的相对运动建立控制四坐标跟踪环所需的状态矢量微分方程,然后推导相应的非线性滤波算法。最后给出计算机的模拟结果。计算机模拟的结果清晰地说明采用最佳滤波的系统性能比通常的有很大改善,并且这种瞄准轴坐标系的最佳系统对目标的随机机动是不灵敏的。 本文所讨论的方法和得出的结论可以延用到地面雷达、舰载雷达以及其他有源和无源的跟踪系统。     

A fusion and learning algorithm for landing aircraft tracking:compensating for exhaust plume disturbance

An algorithm is presented for tracking a landing aircraft using fusion of two different passive sensors, a laser range finder (LRF) and a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera. The main feature of this algorithm is its ability to identify and compensate for an exhaust plume disturbance. The algorithm is based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) and the filtering confidence function (FCF) which introduces a learning approach to the tracking problem. The results of a simulation using the learning tracking algorithm and the EKF alone are presented and compared     

自由段弹道目标跟踪算法在工程中的应用

在对弹道目标跟踪预警的工程实践中,雷达系统对目标运动的信息处理速度尤为重要,因而,文章选取自适应跟踪模型与卡尔曼滤波相结合的方法解决自由段弹道目标的跟踪问题,并与扩展卡尔曼跟踪算法做了对比分析。仿真显示,2种滤波方式分别与自适应跟踪模型相结合后,卡尔曼滤波和扩展卡尔曼滤波跟踪性能相差不大,但其算法简单、运算时间短,可以较好满足自由段弹道目标跟踪的工程需求。     

一种基于径向加速度的Singer-EKF机动目标跟踪算法

针对雷达均不能提供目标加速度信息,在目标机动时会出现跟踪精度差甚至跟踪发散的问题,提出一种基于径向加速度的Singer-EKF算法。该算法在信号处理阶段利用Radon-Ambiguity变换（RAT）估计出目标的径向加速度,并通过坐标转换将其引入量测向量中,然后采用基于Singer模型的扩展卡尔曼滤波（EKF）算法实现机动目标的跟踪。仿真验证了该方法的有效性,并与传统的不带径向加速度的扩展卡尔曼滤波（EKF）方法进行了比较,结果表明该方法在径向距离、位置、加速度和速度估计精度方面都有所提高。     

Nonlinear Estimation with Radar Observations

The nonlinearities of the radar measurement model equation are examined and their influence upon the accuracy of filtering and smoothing is determined. A simple algorithm by which the effects from these nonlinearities can be significantly reduced is derived. It consists of processing the radar observations in this order: azimuth, elevation, and range, using the azimuth residual to evaluate the elevation residual, and then using this combined result to evaluate the range residual. The accuracy of estimates obtained via the algorithm is compared with and shown to be superior to that of the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Furthermore, use of the algorithm does not increase the computational complexity of estimation beyond that of the EKF.     

Quadratic extended Kalman filter approach for GPS/INS integration

GPS/INS integration system has been widely applied for navigation due to their complementary characteristics. And the tightly coupled integration approach has the advantage over the loosely coupled approach by using the raw GPS measurements, but hence introduces the nonlinearity into the measurement equation of the Kalman filter. So the typical method for navigation using measurements of range or pseudorange is by linearizing the measurements in an extended Kalman filter (EKF). However, the modeling errors of the EKF will cause the bias and divergence problems especially under the situation that the low quality inertial devices are included. To solve this problem, a quadratic EKF approach by adding the second-order derivative information to retain some nonlinearities is proposed in this paper. Simulation results indicate that the nonlinear terms included in the filtering process have the great influence on the performance of integration, especially in the case that the low quality INS is used in the integrated system. Furthermore, a two-stage cascaded estimation method is used, which circumvents the difficulty of solving nonlinear equations and greatly decreases the computational complexity of the proposed approach, so the quadratic EKF approach proposed in this paper is of great value in practice.     

三星时差无源跟踪算法研究

基于卫星平台的无源定位系统可以通过卫星的绕地运动和轨道覆盖,实现对全球地面辐射源的被动侦察,具有侦察隐蔽性强、侦测范嗣广和不受地理位置限制的优点。把一种新的修正协方差扩展卡尔曼滤波（MVEKF）方法引入三星对运动目标的时差无源定位跟踪中,克服了EKF受初始状态和测量误差影响大的缺点,也不用像MGEKF一样需要观测方程的修正函数,仿真表明该滤波方法相对来说收敛速度更快,跟踪性能更好。     

Tracking an incoming ballistic missile using an extended interval Kalman filter

The important tracking problem by radar of an incoming ballistic missile system, which contains uncertainty in modeling and noise in both dynamics and measurements, is studied. The classical extended Kalman filter (EKF) is no longer applicable to such an uncertain system, and so a new extended interval Kalman filter (EIKF) is developed for tracking the missile system. Computer simulation is presented to show the effectiveness of the EIKF algorithm for this uncertain and nonlinear ballistic missile tracking problem.     

False alarm effects on estimation in multitarget trackers

An analysis of false alarm effects on tracking filter performance in multitarget track-while-scan radars, using variable correlation gates, is presented. The false alarms considered originate from noise, clutter, and crossing targets. The dimensions of the correlation gates are determined by filter prediction and measurement error variances. Track association is implanted either by means of a distance weighted average of the observations or by the nearest neighbor rule. State estimation is performed by means of a second-order discrete Kalman filter, taking into consideration random target maneuvers. Measurements are made in polar coordinates, while target dynamics are estimated in Cartesian coordinates, resulting in coupled linear filter equations. the effect of false alarms on the observation noise covariance matrix, and hence on state estimation errors, is analyzed. A computer simulation example, implementing radar target tracking with a variable correlation gate in the presence of false alarms, is discussed     

基于变分贝叶斯的星载雷达非线性滤波

星载雷达由于其探测范围广、距离远、全天候等优点，在预警防御系统中占有十分重要的地位。然而，由于观测平台的高速运动以及摄动干扰、传感器观测非线性等问题，使得星载雷达目标高精度跟踪带来严峻挑战。针对星载雷达非线性状态估计问题，采用一种基于变分贝叶斯的非线性滤波方法，该方法通过将非线性状态估计问题转化为优化问题，通过迭代优化获得了闭环解析解。此外，针对坐标变换中俯仰角量测缺失问题，提出了一种基于先验目标高度的俯仰角估计方法。通过数值仿真，验证了所提方法较传统非线性滤波方法，如扩展卡尔曼滤波、不敏卡尔曼滤波、转换量测卡尔曼滤波，具有更好的估计精度。     

基于IMMKF算法的ADS-B监视应用目标跟踪

目标跟踪是机载广播式自动相关监视（ADS-B）应用的基础功能,对提升航空器周边的弱机动民航飞机目标跟踪性能具有重要意义。提出一种基于交互式多模型卡尔曼滤波（IMMKF）算法的ADS-B 监视应用目标跟踪方法。首先,针对弱机动背景下的民航飞机的飞行特点,建立包含匀速模型和标准协同转弯模型的运动模型集,并对模型进行线性化近似;然后,将模型预测和ADS-B 状态矢量量测数据作为IMMKF 算法中多个并行卡尔曼滤波器的输入,进行并行滤波;最后,计算得到目标状态矢量的估计和模型近似概率,并作为下一次迭代的输入。结果表明：相比于基于匀速模型的卡尔曼滤波目标跟踪方法,IMMKF 方法的位置跟踪误差降低了59%,速度跟踪误差降低了77%,显著提升了状态估计性能,具备较高的跟踪精度、稳健性与计算效率,在ADS-B 监视应用中具有实际应用价值与借鉴意义。     

FDEKF在反辐射无人机抗目标雷达关机中的应用

基于捷联惯导/反辐射导引头组合抗目标雷达关机制导方案,研究了有限差分卡尔曼滤波(FDEKF)方法在对目标雷达被动定位中的应用。考虑反辐射导引头测角存在非线性特性,提出了一种基于扩展状态变量维数的方法实现了目标状态估计和导引头非线性特性补偿。仿真结果表明,FDEKF是一种具有良好性能的非线性滤波方法,可以代替传统的EKF解决反辐射无人机对目标雷达的被动定位问题。     

基于PnP和自适应线性卡尔曼滤波的实时位姿估计

针对实时位姿估计中扩展卡尔曼滤波(EKF)线性化引入非线性误差和依赖已知噪声分布的缺点,提出一种基于PnP的自适应线性卡尔曼滤波位姿估计求解方法。将PnP位姿估计求解策略引入卡尔曼滤波观测方程,通过对动态方程误差统计参数实时估计,自适应调节卡尔曼滤波递推参数。所提算法求解精度高,固定了观测方程的观测向量维度,提高了算法实用性。通过仿真试验,比较了该算法与EKF的位姿估计精度,通过量化误差分析,证明了该方法可以提高三维运动位姿估计精度,也验证了该方法的有效性。     

UKF方法及其在方位跟踪问题中的应用

采用UKF(Unscented Kalman Filter)方法处理了平面内地面站对目标的方位跟踪的估计问题。目标的位置和速度由选定的高斯分布采样点来近似，在每个更新过程中，采样点随着状态方程传播并随着非线性测量方程变换，由此不但得到目标位置和速度的均值及较高的计算精度，而且避免了对非线性方程的线性化过程。仿真结果表明，UKF方法比传统的扩展卡尔曼滤波(EKF)算法有更高的估计精度，并能有效地克服非线性严重时，方位跟踪问题中很容易出现的滤波发散问题。     

Convolution Particle Filter for Parameter Estimation in General State-Space Models

The state-space modeling of partially observed dynamical systems generally requires estimates of unknown parameters. The dynamic state vector together with the static parameter vector can be considered as an augmented state vector. Classical filtering methods, such as the extended Kalman filter (EKF) and the bootstrap particle filter (PF), fail to estimate the augmented state vector. For these classical filters to handle the augmented state vector, a dynamic noise term should be artificially added to the parameter components or to the deterministic component of the dynamical system. However, this approach degrades the estimation performance of the filters. We propose a variant of the PF based on convolution kernel approximation techniques. This approach is tested on a simulated case study.     

Adaptive Tracker Field-of-View Variation Via Multiple Model Filtering

Adaptive estimation using multiple model filtering is investigated as a means of changing the field of view as well as the bandwidth of an infrared image tracker when target acceleration can vary over a wide range. The multiple models are created by tuning filters for best performance at differing conditions of exhibited target behavior and differing physical size of their respective fields of view. Probabilistically weighted averaging provides the adaptation mechanism. Each filter involves online identification of the target shape function, so that this algorithm can be used against ill-defined and/or multiple-hot-spot targets. When each individual filter has the form of an enhanced correlator/linear Kalman filter, computational loading is very low. In contrast, an extended Kalman filter processing the raw infrared data directly and assuming a nonlinear constant turn-rate dynamics model provides superior tracking capability, especially for harsh maneuvers, at the cost of a larger computational burden.     

天基低轨空间监视雷达密集短弧观测数据的定轨应用研究

当天基雷达采用多波束扫描时,每次与空间目标交会可获取类似跟踪的观测数据。本文讨论了这些密集短弧观测数据在目标轨道改进中的应用。在没有测量时,采用矩阵Ricatti方程计算状态误差;引入观测数据时,比较了EKF和UKF两种滤波算法的轨道改进效果。仿真表明,UKF的收敛速度优于EKF;天基短弧观测数据可以很好地抑制误差发散,满足监视任务需求。