Fast density peak-based clustering algorithm for multiple extended target tracking

The key challenge of the extended target probability hypothesis density (ET-PHD) filter is to reduce the computational complexity by using a subset to approximate the full set of partitions. In this paper, the influence for the tracking results of different partitions is analyzed, and the form of the most informative partition is obtained. Then, a fast density peak-based clustering (FDPC) partitioning algorithm is applied to the measurement set partitioning. Since only one partition of the measurement set is used, the ET-PHD filter based on FDPC partitioning has lower computational complexity than the other ET-PHD filters. As FDPC partitioning is able to remove the spatially close clutter-generated measurements, the ET-PHD filter based on FDPC partitioning has good tracking performance in the scenario with more clutter-generated measurements. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can get the most informative partition and obviously reduce computational burden without losing tracking performance. As the number of clutter-generated measurements increased, the ET-PHD filter based on FDPC partitioning has better tracking performance than other ET-PHD filters. The FDPC algorithm will play an important role in the engineering realization of the multiple extended target tracking filter.