Suboptimal joint probabilistic data association

A significant problem in multiple target tracking is the hit-to-track data association. A hit is a received signal from a target or background clutter which provides positional information. If an incorrect hit is associated with a track, that track could diverge and terminate. Prior methods for this data association problem include various optimal and suboptimal two-dimensional assignment algorithms which make hit-to-track associations. Another method is to assign a weight for the reasonable hits and use a weighted centroid of those hits to update the track. The method of weighting the hits is known as joint probabilistic data association (JPDA). The authors review the JPDA approach and a simple ad hoc approximation and then introduce a new suboptimal JPDA algorithm. Examples which compare an optimal two-dimensional assignment algorithm with the ad hoc and the new suboptimal JPDA formulation are given     

密集杂波环境下的数据关联快速算法

基于联合概率数据互联（JPDA）的思想,提出了一种新的数据关联快速算法（Fast Al-gorithm for Data Association,简称FAFDA算法）.该方法不需象在最优JPDA算法中那样生成所有可能的联合互联假设,因而具有计算量小,易于工程实现的特点。仿真结果表明,与最优JPDA算法相比,FAFDA算法的跟踪性能令人满意,并且在密集杂波环境下可实时、有效地跟踪100批次以上的目标。     

Tracking of multiple maneuvering targets using multiscan JPDA and IMM filtering

The paper considers the problem of tracking multiple maneuvering targets in the presence of clutter using switching multiple target motion models. A novel suboptimal filtering algorithm is developed by applying the basic interacting multiple model (IMM) approach and the joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) technique. Unlike the standard single-scan JPDA approach, the authors exploit a multiscan joint probabilistic data association (mscan-JPDA) approach to solve the data association problem. The algorithm is illustrated via a simulation example involving tracking of four maneuvering targets and a multiscan data window of length two     

A class of near optimal JPDA algorithms

The crucial problem in multiple target tracking is the hit-to-track data association. A hit is a received signal from a target or background clutter which provides positional information If an incorrect hit is associated with a track, that track could diverge and prematurely terminate or cause other tracks to also diverge. Most methods for hit-to-track data association fall into two categories: multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) and joint probabilistic data association (JPDA). Versions of MHT use all or some reasonable hits to update a track and delay the decision on which hit was correct. JPDA uses a weighted sum of the reasonable hits to update a track. These weights are the probability that the hit originated from the target in track. The computational load for the joint probabilities increases exponentially as the number of targets increases and therefore, is not an attractive algorithm when expecting to track many targets. Reviewed here is the JPDA filter and two simple approximations of the joint probabilities which increase linearly in computational load as the number of targets increase. Then a new class of near optimal JPDA algorithms is introduced which run in polynomial time. The power of the polynomial is an input to the algorithm. This algorithm bridges the gap in computational load and accuracy between the very fast simple approximations and the efficient optimal algorithms     

Dynamically adaptable m-best 2-D assignment algorithm andmultilevel parallelization

In recent years, there has been considerable interest within the tracking community in an approach to data association based on the m-best two-dimensional (2D) assignment algorithm. Much of the interest has been spurred by its ability to provide various efficient data association solutions, including joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) and multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT). The focus of this work is to describe several recent improvements to the m-best 2D assignment algorithm. One improvement is to utilize a nonintrusive 2D assignment algorithm switching mechanism, based on a problem sparsity threshold. Dynamic switching between two different 2D assignment algorithms, highly suited for sparse and dense problems, respectively, enables more efficient solutions to the numerous 2D assignment problems generated in the m-best 2D assignment framework. Another improvement is to utilize a multilevel parallelization enabling many independent and highly parallelizable tasks to be executed concurrently, including 1) solving the multiple 2D assignment problems via a parallelization of the m-best partitioning task, and 2) calculating the numerous gating tests, state estimates, covariance calculations, and likelihood function evaluations (used as cost coefficients in the 2D assignment problem) via a parallelization of the data association interface task. Using both simulated data and an air traffic surveillance (ATS) problem based on data from two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control radars, we demonstrate that efficient solutions to the data association problem are obtainable using our improvements in the m-best 2D assignment algorithm     

Joint probabilistic data association for autonomous navigation

A new autonomous navigation scheme based on the joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) approach that processes landmark detections in the field of view (FOV) of an on-board sensor is developed. These detections-some true, some false-are associated to a set of stored landmarks and used to update the state of the vehicle. The results obtained from Monte Carlo simulations prove the ability of this navigation filter to perform in very high false alarm environments. In the different environmental conditions tested in the simulations, the performance of the JPDA navigation filter (JPDANF) is very close to that of the filter based on perfect data association. The very efficient cluster decomposition algorithm presented for the purpose of the navigation problem can also be used in many multitarget tracking applications     

Neural solution to the multitarget tracking data associationproblem

The problem of tracking multiple targets in the presence of clutter is addressed. The joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) algorithm has been previously reported to be suitable for this problem in that it makes few assumptions and can handle many targets as long as the clutter density is not very high. However, the complexity of this algorithm increases rapidly with the number of targets and returns. An approximation of the JPDA that uses an analog computational network to solve the data association problem is suggested. The problem is viewed as that of optimizing a suitably chosen energy function. Simple neural-network structures for the approximate minimization of such functions have been proposed by other researchers. The analog network used offers a significant degree of parallelism and thus can compute the association probabilities more rapidly. Computer simulations indicate the ability of the algorithm to track many targets simultaneously in the presence of moderately dense clutter     

Multiple scan joint probabilistic data association

This paper presents a multiple scan or n-scan-back joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) algorithm which addresses the problem of measurement-to-track data association in a multiple target and clutter environment. The standard single scan JPDA algorithm updates a track with weighted sum of the measurements which could have reasonably originated from the target in track. The only information the standard JPDA algorithm uses is the measurements on the present scan and the state vectors and covariance matrices of the present targets. The n-scan-back algorithm presented here uses multiple scans of measurements along with the present target information to produce better weights for data association. The standard JPDA algorithm can utilize a formidable amount of processing power and the n-scan-back version only worsens the problem. Therefore, along with the algorithm presentation, implementations which make this algorithm practical are discussed and referenced. An example is also shown for a few n-scan-back window lengths     

修正的概率数据互联算法

阐明了概率数据互联(PDA)算法能很好地解决密集环境下的目标跟踪问题,在该算法基础上,人们又提出了联合概率数据互联(JPDA)算法和一些基于 PDA 的修正算法。在概率数据互联算法中,有一个很重要的参数就是杂波数密度(或波门内虚假量测期望数)。然而在许多实际情况中,这个参数是很难获取的。针对这一问题,文中提出了一种修正的概率数据互联算法,该算法通过实时地调整这一参数来获得对目标较为准确的估计结果。最后,给出了算法的仿真分析。     

基于数据关联的故障快速检测

 多数情况下,快速实时地进行故障检测是很重要的。将故障看做是通过多传感器观测的动态模型,进行多传感器多模型概率数据关联,以各个模型的关联结果和设定的阈值为依据,可以有效地实现故障检测。联合概率数据关联（JPDA）算法是解决多传感器多目标跟踪的一个有效方法,文中通过分析概率数据关联算法,对联合概率数据关联算法进行了改进：（1）通过正确地选择阈值,移除小概率事件,进而建立一个近似的确认矩阵;（2）根据被跟踪目标故障跟踪门的相交情况,将跟踪空间进行数学划分,形成若干相互独立的区域;（3）对同一区域内公共有效量测的概率密度值进行衰减,计算出关联概率。仿真对比表明,本文的改进算法能显著减少计算时间,有效提高故障检测的快速性和实时性。     

Multisensor covariance control strategies for reducing bias effects in interacting target scenarios

Algorithms are presented for managing sensor information to reduce the effects of bias when tracking interacting targets. When targets are close enough together that their measurement validation gates overlap, the measurement from one target can be confused with another. Data association algorithms such as the joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) algorithm can effectively continue to track targets under these conditions, but the target estimates may become biased. A modification of the covariance control approach for sensor management can reduce this effect. Sensors are chosen based on their ability to reduce the extent of measurement gate overlap as judged by a set of heuristic parameters derived in this work. Monte Carlo simulation results show that these are effective methods of reducing target estimate bias in the JPDA algorithm when targets are close together. An analysis of the computational demands of these algorithms shows that while they are computationally demanding, they are not prohibitively so.     

Evaluation of multiple radar target trackers in stressfulenvironments

This paper evaluates the performance of multiple target tracking (MTT) algorithms in real-life stressful radar tracking environments. Real closely spaced maneuver radar data, generated by six F-18 fighters and other targets, were collected jointly by the defence departments of Canada and United States to support this practical MTT algorithm evaluation study. A set of performance metrics was defined here to compare the suboptimal nearest neighbor (SNN), global nearest neighbor (GNN), and various variants of the joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) MTT trackers. Results reveal an interesting result that all these MTT algorithms exhibited very close performance. In addition, the weighted sum approach of the PDA/JPDA trackers which are theoretically effective were observed to perform poorly in tracking closely spaced targets. Overall speaking, the GNN filter based on the Munkres algorithm had the best performance in terms of both tracking performance and robustness     

Tracking of Spawning Targets with Multiple Finite Resolution Sensors

In this paper the problem of tracking multiple spawning targets with multiple finite-resolution sensors is considered and a new algorithm for measurement-to-track association with possibly unresolved measurements is presented. The goal is to initialize new tracks of spawned targets before they are resolved from the mother platform so that one has the ability to carry out early discrimination when they become resolved. The multiple scan data association problem is first formulated as a multidimensional assignment problem with explicit new constraints for the unresolved measurements. Then the top M hypotheses tracking (TMHT) is presented where the state estimates and their covariances are modified based on the M best hypotheses through the assignment solutions. A modification to the assignment problem is developed that leads to a linear programming (LP) where the optimal solution can be a noninteger in [0,1]. The fractional optimal solution is interpreted as (pseudo) probabilities over the N - 1 frame sliding window. The best hard (binary) decision assignment solution and the M best via TMHT are compared with the soft decision solution for 2-D tracking scenarios with various sensor configurations. Based on the simulation results, the soft assignment approach has better track maintenance capability than the single best hard assignment and a performance nearly as good as the TMHT. Its computational load is slightly higher than the single best hard assignment but much lighter than TMHT.     

Stable two-sided matching of slot allocation in airport collaborative decision making by top trading cycles mechanism

The problem of capacity shortage in some airports needs to be dealt with sustainable solutions including a more efficient use of the existing runway slots at the airports. The Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is an important approach applied to Air Traffic Management (ATM) to achieve this efficient use of the slots allocation. Using the Matching approach for two-sided markets of Game theory, the Top Trading Cycle CDM (TTC-CDM) algorithm developed in this research is an extension of the CDM approach aggregating the Ground Delay Program (GDP) of the air sector. The paper compared the developed TTC-CDM model to the existing models such as the conventional Compression algorithm in CDM, the Trade Cycle algorithm and the Deferred Acceptance CDM (DA-CDM) model to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. Through a case study, the results show the effective application of TTC-CDM model to slot allocation in ATM and also presents the advantage of considering the preferences of airport managers beside ATC controllers and airlines in the decision processing.     

SEQUENTIAL ALGORITHM FOR MULTISENSOR PROBABILISTIC DATA ASSOCIATION

Jointprobabillsticdataassociation(JPDA)isanalgorithmusedinsinglesensormultipletargettrackingsystems.Itemploysthenon-uniqueassignmentof"allneighbor"strategytoadaptforthedensemultitargettrackingenvironments[1].Becauseofitswideapplications,itisnecessarytoextendJPDAintosomemultiplesensortrackingsystems.Suchamultisensorsystem,forexample,canbeformedbycollocatingradarandinfraredsearchandtrack(IRST)whichcantakeadvantagesofboththesensorsbodatafusion.Undertheconditionofthesamesensors,acommonmeasure…     

空间多分辨率模糊目标跟踪

提出了一种新的模糊目标跟踪算法--CPDA算法。这个算法在空间多分辨率框架下应用概率数据互联算法,在粗分辨率上实现模糊目标跟踪。在不同虚警密度的模糊目标环境下,利用仿真实验分析了CPDA算法的跟踪性能,同时将其与单分辨率上的联合概率数据互联方法进行了性能比较。仿真结果表明,CPDA算法的跟踪性能在达到与单分辨率上JPDA算法同样性能的条件下,能够以较小的计算量跟踪模糊目标。     

随机神经网络在机动多目标跟踪中的应用

研究密集多回波环境下的机动多目标跟踪问题。通过对多目标联合概率数据关联方法性能特征的分析,将其归结为一类约束组合优化问题。在此基础上,利用随机神经网络求解组合优化问题的策略,采用改进的增益退火算法,提出了一种新颖的机动多目标快速自适应神经网络跟踪方法。仿真结果表明,该方法不仅具有很高的收敛速度和跟踪精度,而且计算量小,关联效果好。     

航空发动机性能寻优控制混合优化算法

根据性能寻优控制(Perform ance Seek ing Con trol)优化模式的特点,针对某型涡扇发动机,研究了把发动机性能优化问题描述为线性规划问题。同时针对线性规划方法可能会收敛于局部极小值和非线性方法计算量大的问题,提出了基于LP(L inear P rogramm ing)和MAPS(M odel-A ssisted Pattern Search)混合优化方法,并研究了LP和MAPS混合优化方法在航空发动机性能寻优控制中的应用,同时在最大推力控制模式和最小油耗控制模式下进行了仿真。大量仿真结果表明,采用混合优化方法可进一步提高发动机的性能,并且大大减少了计算量。      

Problem characterization in tracking/fusion algorithm evaluation

The performance of a tracking/fusion algorithm depends very much on the complexity of the problem. This paper presents an approach for evaluating tracking/fusion algorithms that consider the difficulty of the problem. Evaluation is performed by characterizing the performance of the basic functions of prediction and association. The problem complexity is summarized by means of context metrics. Two context metrics for characterizing prediction and association difficulty are normalized target mobility and normalized target density. These metrics should be presented along with the performance metrics. The context metrics also support more efficient generation of input data for performance evaluation. Simple tests for evaluating basic tracking algorithm functions are presented     

STOCHASTIC NEURAL NETWORK AND ITS APPLICATION TO MULTI－MANEUVERING TARGET TRACKING

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