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     

多平台多传感器航迹关联算法研究

航迹关联是分布式多平台数据融合系统中的一项关键技术,本文探讨了机载多平台航迹关联算法及数据对准问题。     

基于相对位置矢量的群目标灰色精细航迹起始算法

为解决群内目标精细航迹起始的难题,基于对传统航迹起始算法及现有群目标航迹起始算法优缺点的分析,给出了完整的群目标航迹起始框架,并提出了一种基于相对位置矢量的群目标灰色精细航迹起始算法。首先基于循环阈值模型、群中心点进行群的预分割、预关联,然后对预关联成功的群搜索对应坐标系,建立群中各量测的相对位置矢量,基于灰色精细互联模型完成群内量测的互联,最后基于航迹确认规则得到群目标状态矩阵。经仿真数据验证,与修正的逻辑法、基于聚类和Hough变换的多编队航迹起始算法相比,该算法在起始真实航迹、抑制虚假航迹及杂波鲁棒性等方面综合性能更优。     

Architectures and algorithms for track association and fusion

Target tracking using multiple sensors can provide better performance than using a single sensor. One approach to multiple target tracking with multiple sensors is to first perform single sensor tracking and then fuse the tracks from the different sensors. Two processing architectures for track fusion are presented: sensor to sensor track fusion, and sensor to system track fusion. Technical issues related to the statistical correlation between track estimation errors are discussed. Approaches for associating the tracks and combining the track state estimates of associated tracks that account for this correlation are described and compared by both theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo simulations     

Performance evaluation for MAP state estimate fusion

This paper presents a quantitative performance evaluation method for the maximum a posteriori (MAP) state estimate fusion algorithm. Under ideal conditions where data association is assumed to be perfect, it has been shown that the MAP or best linear unbiased estimate (BLUE) fusion formula provides the best linear minimum mean squared estimate (LMMSE) given local estimates under the linear Gaussian assumption for a static system. However, for a dynamic system where fusion is recursively performed by the fusion center on local estimates generated from local measurements, it is not obvious how the MAP algorithm will perform. In the past, several performance evaluation methods have been proposed for various fusion algorithms, including simple convex combination, cross-covariance combination, information matrix, and MAP fusion. However, not much has been done to quantify the steady state behavior of these fusion methods for a dynamic system. The goal of this work is to present analytical fusion performance results for MAP state estimate fusion without extensive Monte Carlo simulations, using an approach developed for steady state performance evaluation for track fusion. Two different communication strategies are considered: fusion with and without feedback to the sensors. Analytic curves for the steady state performance of the fusion algorithm for various communication patterns are presented under different operating conditions.     

New track correlation algorithms in a multisensor data fusion system

In order to resolve the problem of track-to-track association in a distributed multisensor situation, this paper presents independent and dependent sequential track correlation algorithms based on Singer's and Bar-Shalom's algorithms. Based on sequential track correlation algorithm, the restricted and attenuation memory track correlation algorithms and sequential classic assignment rules are proposed. In this paper, these algorithms are described in detail. Then, the track correlation mass and multivalency processing methods are discussed as well. Finally, simulations are designed to compare the correlation performance of these algorithms with that of Singer's and Bar-Shalom's algorithms. The simulation results show that the performance of these algorithms proposed here is much better than that of the classical methods under the environments of dense targets, interfering, noise, track cross, and so on. Under the above situations, their correct correlation ratio is improved about 69 percent over the classical methods     

Performance evaluation of track fusion with information matrixfilter

In a multisensor environment, each sensor detects multiple targets and creates corresponding tracks. Fusion of tracks from these, possibly dissimilar, sensors yields more accurate kinematic and attribute information regarding the target. Two methodologies have been employed for such purpose, which are: measurement fusion and state vector fusion. It is well known that the measurement fusion approach is optimal but computationally inefficient and the state vector fusion algorithms are more efficient but suboptimal, in general. This is so because the state vector estimates to be fused obtained from two sensors, are not conditionally independent in general due to the common process noise from the target being tracked. It is to be noted that there are three approaches to state vector fusion, which are: weighted covariance, information matrix, and pseudomeasurement. This research is restricted solely to performance evaluation of the information matrix form of state vector fusion. Closed-form analytical solution of steady state fused covariance has been derived as a measure of performance using this approach. Note that the results are derived under the assumptions that the two sensors are synchronized and no misassociation or merged measurement is considered in the study. Results are compared with those using Monte Carlo simulation, which was used in the past to predict fusion system performance by various authors. These results provide additional insight into the mechanism of track fusion and greatly simplify evaluation of fusion performance. In addition, availability of such a solution facilitates the trade-off studies for designing fusion systems under various operating conditions     

Efficient multisensor fusion using multidimensional dataassociation

We present the development of a multisensor fusion algorithm using multidimensional data association for multitarget tracking. The work is motivated by a large scale surveillance problem, where observations from multiple asynchronous sensors with time-varying sampling intervals (electronically scanned array (ESA) radars) are used for centralized fusion. The combination of multisensor fusion with multidimensional assignment is done so as to maximize the “time-depth” in addition to “sensor-width” for the number S of lists handled by the assignment algorithm. The standard procedure, which associates measurements from the most recently arrived S-1 frames to established tracks, can have, in the case of S sensors, a time-depth of zero. A new technique, which guarantees maximum effectiveness for an S-dimensional data association (S⩾3), i.e., maximum time-depth (S-1) for each sensor without sacrificing the fusion across sensors, is presented. Using a sliding window technique (of length S), the estimates are updated after each frame of measurements. The algorithm provides a systematic approach to automatic track formation, maintenance, and termination for multitarget tracking using multisensor fusion with multidimensional assignment for data association. Estimation results are presented for simulated data for a large scale air-to-ground target tracking problem     

基于分段序列离散度的异步航迹关联算法

为解决异步不等速率航迹关联问题，提出一种基于分段序列离散度的异步航迹关联算法。定义分段混合航迹序列的离散信息度量，给出不等长航迹序列分段划分规则，通过计算离散度，利用经典分配法进行关联判定，并针对多义性问题设置二次检验环节。与传统算法相比，不需要时间对准，且具有不受噪声分布影响的特点。仿真结果表明，算法在航迹异步、传感器采样率不同等条件下均能以较高正确率稳定关联，并可有效分辨航迹交叉、分叉和合并等复杂情况，具有明显的优势。     

Tracking in Clutter using IMM-IPDA?Based Algorithms

We describe three single-scan probabilistic data association (PDA) based algorithms for tracking manoeuvering targets in clutter. These algorithms are derived by integrating the interacting multiple model (IMM) estimation algorithm with the PDA approximation. Each IMM model a posteriori state estimate probability density function (pdf) is approximated by a single Gaussian pdf. Each algorithm recursively updates the probability of target existence, in the manner of integrated PDA (IPDA). The probability of target existence is a track quality measure, which can be used for false track discrimination. The first algorithm presented, IMM-IPDA, is a single target tracking algorithm. Two multitarget tracking algorithms are also presented. The IMM-JIPDA algorithm calculates a posteriori probabilities of all measurement to track allocations, in the manner of the joint IPDA (JIPDA). The number of measurement to track allocations grows exponentially with the number of shared measurements and the number of tracks which share the measurements. Therefore, IMM-JIPDA can only be used in situations with a small number of crossing targets and low clutter measurement density. The linear multitarget IMM-IPDA (IMM-LMIPDA) is also a multitarget tracking algorithm, which achieves the multitarget capabilities by integrating linear multitarget (LM) method with IMM-IPDA. When updating one track using the LM method, the other tracks modulate the clutter measurement density and are subsequently ignored. In this fashion, LM achieves multitarget capabilities using the number of operations which are linear in the: number of measurements and the number of tracks, and can be used in complex scenarios, with dense clutter and a large number of targets.     

基于序贯关联算法的多目标无源跟踪

基于序贯关联算法,对多目标无源跟踪问题进行了研究。在只有角度信息可以利用的情况下,首先,利用波门技术对各个无源传感器角度测量数据进行关联和滤波,形成参数航迹;然后,将各个无源传感器的参数航迹送到融合中心进行关联配对,并在关联过程中通过构造关联质量函数对参数航迹的关联历史情况进行度量,解决参数航迹关联模糊问题;最后,通过对关联成功的参数航迹进行交叉定位,给出多个不同目标的位置信息,实现分布式无源系统对多目标的数据关联和跟踪,并通过仿真分析,对算法的有效性和可行性进行验证。     

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     

Data fusion of decentralized local tracker outputs

An approach for fusing offboard track-level data at a central fusion node is presented. The case where the offboard tracker continues to update its local track estimate with measurement and system dynamics models that are not necessarily linear is considered. An algorithm is developed to perform this fusion at a central node without having access to the offboard measurements, their noise statistics, or the location of the local estimator. The algorithm is based on an extension of results that were originally established for linear offboard trackers. A second goal of this work is to develop an inequality constraint for selecting the proper sampling interval for the incoming state estimates to the fusion node. This interval is selected to allow use of conventional Kalman filter algorithms at the fusion node without suffering error performance degradation due to processing a correlated sequence of track state estimates     

Fusion of sensors with dissimilar measurement/tracking accuracies

The case of data fusion of sensors dissimilar in their measurement/tracking errors is considered. It is shown that the fused track performance is similar whether the sensor data are fused at the track level or at the measurement level. The case of a cluster of targets, resolved by one sensor but not the other, is also considered. Under certain conditions the fused track may perform worse than the worst of the sensors. A remedy to this problem through modifications of the association algorithm is presented     

基于空间多特征综合推理的航迹航路关联

针对航迹分类问题,研究了基于空间多特征的综合推理在航路判读中的应用。首先根据空管系统对航路以及飞机飞行的要求,对航迹航路相关问题进行建模。然后根据已知的传感器系统输出的目标特性(位置,航向)与已知的多个航路信息分别进行相关度计算,构造基本信任函数,通过对其融合,得到目标单特征识别结果。其中,通过合理地引入复合类,实现了对目标类别的广义信任分类。建立了多特征折扣融合算法,对多特征基本信任函数进行折扣后再融合,得到目标多特征识别结果。仿真结果以及空管实际数据测试表明:该算法不仅可以实现航迹分类,同时可以有效地降低分类的错误率。     

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     

Multiassignment for tracking a large number of overlapping objects[and application to fibroblast cells]

In this paper we present a new technique for data association using multiassignment for tracking a large number of closely spaced (and overlapping) objects. The algorithm is illustrated on a biomedical problem, namely the tracking of a group of fibroblast (tissue) cells from an image sequence, which motivated this work. Because of their proximity to one another and due to the difficulties in segmenting the images accurately from a poor-quality image sequence, the cells are effectively closely spaced objects (CSOs). The algorithm presents a novel dichotomous, iterated approach to multiassignment using successive one-to-one assignments of decreasing size with modified costs. The cost functions, which are adjusted depending on the “depth” of the current assignment level and on the tracking results, are derived. The resulting assignments are used to form, maintain and terminate tracks with a modified version of the probabilistic data association (PDA) filter, which can handle the contention for a single measurement among multiple tracks in addition to the association of multiple measurements to a single track. Estimation results are given and compared with those of the standard 2D one-to-one assignment algorithm. It is shown that iterated multiassignment results in superior measurement-to-track association. The algorithms presented can be used for other general tracking problems, including dense air traffic surveillance and control     

基于最近邻的集中式多传感器多目标跟踪算法

经典的集中式多传感器多目标跟踪算法通常计算量较大,经常难以满足系统的实时性要求,工程上实现起来比较困难,为进一步扩大集中式多传感器的应用范围,使其在对算法实时性要求较高、跟踪精度要求较小的实际场合中广泛应用。文章基于最近邻域思想,研究了并行处理结构的集中式多传感器最近邻域算法,并从算法跟踪精度、实时性、有效跟踪率3个方面对其与经典的顺序多传感器联合概率数据互联算法进行了仿真比较。经仿真验证,并行处理结构的集中式多传感器最近邻域算法实时性提高了60%以上,且在跟踪背景杂波适中的情况下能够有效跟踪目标。     

帧差法和Mean shift算法融合的高速无人机目标跟踪

为实时跟踪高速飞行无人机,图像跟踪算法必须满足快速性和准确性要求。文章给出一个融合算法,将帧差法和 Mean shift算法的优势结合起来。2个算法平行运行,差帧法实现快速跟踪,Mean shift算法则用于对帧差法结果进行准确度修正。还利用 Kalman滤波技术对计算周期内的无人机运动位移进行补偿,进一步提高实时跟踪的准确性,并给出 Matlab仿真例子验证本文方法的有效性。     

基于区实序列变换的航迹关联算法

针对时变系统条件下的航迹关联问题,提出一种基于区实序列变换的关联算法。首先,利用线性最优化的方法,将上报航迹的不确定性描述为区间灰色序列;再在区实序列变换的基础上,利用实数序列间的灰关联度加权融合描述不同雷达上报航迹的关联相似度,通过判决给出关联结论。仿真结果显示了算法的有效性以及良好的抗差性能。