Multiple model PHD filter for tracking sharply maneuvering targets using recursive RANSAC based adaptive birth estimation

An algorithm to track multiple sharply maneuvering targets without prior knowledge about new target birth is proposed. These targets are capable of achieving sharp maneuvers within a short period of time, such as drones and agile missiles.The probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter, which propagates only the first-order statistical moment of the full target posterior, has been shown to be a computationally efficient solution to multitarget tracking problems. However, the standard PHD filter operates on the single dynamic model and requires prior information about target birth distribution, which leads to many limitations in terms of practical applications. In this paper,we introduce a nonzero mean, white noise turn rate dynamic model and generalize jump Markov systems to multitarget case to accommodate sharply maneuvering dynamics. Moreover, to adaptively estimate newborn targets’information, a measurement-driven method based on the recursive random sampling consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is proposed. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves significant improvement in tracking multiple sharply maneuvering targets with adaptive birth estimation.

Maneuvering target tracking using threshold interacting multiple model algorithm

To avoid missing track caused by the target maneuvers in automatic target tracking system, a new maneuvering target tracking technique called threshold interacting multiple model （TIMM） is proposed. This algorithm is based on the interacting multiple model （IMM） method and applies a threshold controller to improve tracking accuracy. It is also applicable to other advanced algorithms of IMM. In this research, we also compare the position and velocity root mean square （RMS） errors of TIMM and IMM algorithms with two different examples. Simulation results show that the TIMM algorithm is superior to the traditional IMM alzorithm in estimation accuracy.

Target Tracking Using the Interactive Multiple Model Method

Aim To develop a practical target tracking algorithm for different motion modes. Methods After creation of the new model, it was implemented by computer simulation to prove its performance and compared with the often-used current statistical model. Results The simulation results show that the new IMM (interactive multiple model) have low tracking error in both maneuVering segment and non^Inaneuwi segment while the current statistical model bas muCh higher tracking error in non-maneuvering segment. Conclusion In the point of trackintaccuracy, the new IMM method is much better than the current acceleration method. It can develop into a practical target hacking method.

A multiple template approach for robust tracking of fast motion target

Target tracking is very important in computer vision and related areas. It is usually difficult to accurately track fast motion target with appearance variations. Sometimes the tracking algorithms fail for heavy appearance variations. A multiple template method to track fast motion target with appearance changes is presented under the framework of appearance model with Kalman filter. Firstly, we construct a multiple template appearance model, which includes both the original template and templates affinely transformed from original one. Generally speaking, appearance variations of fast motion target can be covered by affine transformation. Therefore, the affine tr templates match the target of appearance variations better than conventional models. Secondly, we present an improved Kalman filter for approx- imate estimating the motion trail of the target and a modified similarity evaluation function for exact matching. The estimation approach can reduce time complexity of the algorithm and keep accuracy in the meantime. Thirdly, we propose an adaptive scheme for updating template set to alleviate the drift problem. The scheme considers the following differences： the weight differences in two successive frames; different types of affine transformation applied to templates. Finally, experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is robust to appearance varia- tion of fast motion target and achieves real-time performance on middle/low-range computing platform.

Labeled box-particle CPHD filter for multiple extended targets tracking

In multiple extended targets tracking, replacing traditional multiple measurements with a rectangular region of the nonzero volume in the state space inspired by the box-particle idea is exactly suitable to deal with extended targets, without distinguishing the measurements originating from the true targets or clutter.Based on our recent work on extended box-particle probability hypothesis density(ET-BP-PHD) filter, we propose the extended labeled box-particle cardinalized probability hypothesis density(ET-LBP-CPHD) filter, which relaxes the Poisson assumptions of the extended target probability hypothesis density(PHD) filter in target numbers, and propagates not only the intensity function but also cardinality distribution. Moreover, it provides the identity of individual target by adding labels to box-particles. The proposed filter can improve the precision of estimating target number meanwhile achieve targets' tracks. The effectiveness and reliability of the proposed algorithm are verified by the simulation results.

Method for Underwater Target Tracking Based on an Interacting Multiple Model

According to the requirements of real-time performance and reliability in underwater maneuvering target tracking as well as clarifying motion features of the underwater target, an interacting multiple model algorithm based on fuzzy logic inference （FIMM） is proposed. Maneuvering patterns of the target are represented by model sets, including the constant velocity model （CA）, the Singer mode~, and the nearly constant speed horizontal-turn model （HT） in FIMM technology. The simulation results show that compared to conventional IMM, the reliability and real-time performance of underwater target tracking can be improved by FIMM algorithm.

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.

Multiple model efficient particle filter based track-before-detect for maneuvering weak targets

It is a tough problem to jointly detect and track a weak target, and it becomes even more challenging when the target is maneuvering. The above problem is formulated by using the Bayesian theory and a multiple model(MM) based filter is proposed. The filter presented uses the MM method to accommodate the multiple motions that a maneuvering target may travel under by adding a random variable representing the motion model to the target state. To strengthen the efficiency performance of the filter,the target existence variable is separated from the target state and the existence probability is calculated in a more efficient way. To examine the performance of the MM based approach, a typical track-before-detect(TBD) scenario with a maneuvering target is used for simulations. The simulation results indicate that the MM based filter proposed has a good performance in joint detecting and tracking of a weak and maneuvering target, and it is more efficient than the general MM method.

Multiple Targets Tracking Using Kinematics in Wireless Sensor Networks

Target tracking is considered as one of the cardinal applications of a wireless sensor network. Tracking multiple targets is more challenging than tracking a single target in a wireless sensor network due to targets’ movement in different directions, targets’ speed variations and frequent connectivity failures of low powered sensor nodes. If all the low-powered sensor nodes are kept active in tracking multiple targets coming from different directions of the network, there is high probability of network failure due to wastage of power. It would be more realistic if the tracking area can be reduced so that less number of sensor nodes will be active and therefore, the network will consume less energy. Tracking area can be reduced by using the target’s kinematics. There is almost no method to track multiple targets based on targets’ kinematics. In our paper, we propose a distributed tracking method for tracking multiple targets considering targets’ kinematics. We simulate our method by a sensor network simulator OMNeT++ and empirical results state that our proposed methodology outperforms traditional tracking algorithms.

Multi-Bernoulli Filter for Tracking Multiple Targets Using Sensor Array

This paper presents a multi-Bernoulli filter for tracking the direction of arrival(DOAs)of time-varying number of targets using sensor array.Our method operates directly on the measurements of sensor array and does not require any detection.Firstly,more information is reserved and compared with the after-detection measurements using a finite set of detected points.It can significantly improve the tracking performance,especially in low signal-to-noise ratio.Secondly,it inherits the advantages of the multi-Bernoulli approximation which models each of the targets individually.This allows more accurate multi-target state estimation,especially when targets cross.The proposed filter does not need clustering step and simulation results showcase the improved performance of the proposed filter.

Multiple extended target tracking algorithm based on Gaussian surface matrix

In this paper, we consider the problem of irregular shapes tracking for multiple extended targets by introducing the Gaussian surface matrix（GSM） into the framework of the random finite set（RFS） theory. The Gaussian surface function is constructed first by the measurements, and it is used to define the GSM via a mapping function. We then integrate the GSM with the probability hypothesis density（PHD） filter, the Bayesian recursion formulas of GSM-PHD are derived and the Gaussian mixture implementation is employed to obtain the closed-form solutions. Moreover, the estimated shapes are designed to guide the measurement set sub-partition, which can cope with the problem of the spatially close target tracking. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively estimate irregular target shapes and exhibit good robustness in cross extended target tracking.

Augmented input estimation in multiple maneuvering target tracking

This paper presents augmented input estimation(AIE)for multiple maneuvering target tracking.Multi-target tracking(MTT)is based on two main parts,data association and estimation.In data association(DA),the best observations are assigned to the considered tracks.In real conditions,the number of observations is more than targets and also locations of observations are often so scattered that the association between targets and observations cannot be done simply.In this case,for general MTT problems with unknown numbers of targets,we present a Markov chain Monte-Carlo DA(MCMCDA)algorithm that approximates the optimal Bayesian filter with low complexity in computations.After DA,estimation and tracking should be done.Since in general cases,many targets can have maneuvering motions,then AIE is proposed to cover both the non-maneuvering and maneuvering parts of motion and the maneuver detection procedure is eliminated.This model with an input estimation(IE)approach is a special augmentation in the state space model which considers both the state vector and the unknown input vector as a new augmented state vector.Some comparisons based on the Monte-Carlo simulations are also made to evaluate the performances of the proposed method and other older methods in MTT.

Tracking Algorithm Based on Improved Interacting Multiple Model Particle Filter

Measurements are always interfered with glint noise in a radar target tracking system, which makes the performance of traditional filtering fall sharply and even divergent.Against this problem, a new Interactive Multiple Model Particle Filter (IMMPF) algorithm is proposed for target tracking by introducing PF into Interactive Multiple Model (IMM).Different from the general method to select importance density function from PF, the particles are extracted from observation likelihood function within depending on observation noises.Observation noise is modelled, and the latest observation is fused, then the target can be effectively tracked.Finally, the optimized method is simulated with respect to bearings-only tracking of maneuvering target in a glint noise environment.Compared with the existing filtering algorithms, it turns out that the developed filtering algorithm is more efficient and closer to the real-time tracking requirement of high maneuvering targets.

A combination algorithm of Chaos optimization and genetic algorithm and its application in maneuvering multiple targets data association

The most important problem in targets tracking is data association which may be represented as a sort of constraint combinational optimization problem. Chaos optimization and adaptive genetic algorithm were used to deal with the problem of multi-targets data association separately. Based on the analysis of the limitation of chaos optimization and genetic algorithm, a new chaos genetic optimization combination algorithm was presented. This new algorithm first applied the "rough" search of chaos optimization to initialize the population of GA, then optimized the population by real-coded adaptive GA. In this way, GA can not only jump out of the "trap" of local optimal results easily but also increase the rate of convergence. And the new method can also avoid the complexity and time-consumed limitation of conventional way. The simulation results show that the combination algorithm can obtain higher correct association percent and the effect of association is obviously superior to chaos optimization or genetic algorithm separately. This method has better convergence property as well as time property than the conventional ones.

Hierarchical interacting multiple model algorithm based on improved current model

Interacting multiple models is the hotspot in the research of maneuvering target models at present. A hierarchical idea is introduced into IMM algorithm. The method is that the whole models are organized as two levels to co-work, and each cell model is an improved ＂current＂ statistical model. In the improved model, a kind of nonlinear fuzzy membership function is presented to get over the limitation of original model, which can not track weak maneuvering target precisely. At last, simulation experiments prove the efficient of the novel algorithm compared to interacting multiple model and hierarchical interacting multiple model based original ＂current＂ statistical model in tracking precision.

Multi-target tracking algorithm based on PHD filter against multi-range-false-target jamming

Multi-range-false-target(MRFT) jamming is particularly challenging for tracking radar due to the dense clutter and the repeated multiple false targets. The conventional association-based multi-target tracking(MTT) methods suffer from high computational complexity and limited usage in the presence of MRFT jamming.In order to solve the above problems, an efficient and adaptable probability hypothesis density(PHD) filter is proposed. Based on the gating strategy, the obtained measurements are firstly classified into the generalized newborn target and the existing target measurements. The two categories of measurements are independently used in the decomposed form of the PHD filter. Meanwhile,an amplitude feature is used to suppress the dense clutter. In addition, an MRFT jamming suppression algorithm is introduced to the filter. Target amplitude information and phase quantization information are jointly used to deal with MRFT jamming and the clutter by modifying the particle weights of the generalized newborn targets. Simulations demonstrate the proposed algorithm can obtain superior correct discrimination rate of MRFT, and high-accuracy tracking performance with high computational efficiency in the presence of MRFT jamming in the dense clutter.

Application of Road Information in Ground Moving Target Tracking

A new algorithm is developed to achieve accurate state estimation in ground moving target tracking by means of using road information. It is an adaptive variable structure interacting multiple model estimator with dynamic models modification （DMM VS-IMM for short）. Firstly, road information is employed to modify the target dynamic models used by filter, including modification of state transition matrix and process noise. Secondly, road information is applied to update the model set of a VS-IMM estimator. Predicted state estimation and road information are used to locate the target in the road network on which the model set is updated and finally IMM filtering is implemented. As compared with traditional methods, the accuracy of state estimation is improved for target moving not only on a single road, but also through an intersection. Monte Carlo simulation demonstrates the efficiency and robustness of the proposed algorithm with moderate computational loads.

An unscented particle filter for ground maneuvering target tracking

In this study, an unscented particle filtering method based on an interacting multiple model (IMM) frame for a Markovian switching system is presented. The method integrates the multiple model (MM) filter with an unscented particle filter (UPF) by an interaction step at the beginning. The framework (interaction/mixing, filtering, and combination) is similar to that in a standard IMM filter, but an UPF is adopted in each model. Therefore, the filtering performance and degeneracy phenomenon of particles are improved. The filtering method addresses nonlinear and/or non-Gaussian tracking problems. Simulation results show that the method has better tracking performance compared with the standard IMM-type filter and IMM particle filter.

Design and comparison of minimal symmetric model-subset for maneuvering target tracking

Model-set is utilized in state estimation for maneuver- ing target tracking. Two minimal symmetric model-subsets are designed and investigated by moment matching method, which include hypersphere-symmetric model-subset and axis-symmetric model-subset, if system mode is a random variable and obeys certain probability distribution. They can be used as the fun- damental model-subset for multiple models estimation with fixed structure, variable structure and moving bank. The model-groups constructed by above designed subsets are given, which give the practical guidance for use of model-set in multiple models ap- proach with a variable structure. Simulation results show that the performances of two minimal model-set significantly outperform the corresponding model-sets with fixed spacing.

An Algorithm of the Adaptive Grid and Fuzzy Interacting Multiple Model

This paper studies the algorithm of the adaptive grid and fuzzy interacting multiple model （AGFIMM） for maneuvering target tracking, while focusing on the problems of the fixed structure multiple model （FSMM） algorithm＇s cost-efficiency ratio being not high and the Markov transition probability of the interacting multiple model （IMM） algorithm being difficult to determine exactly. This algorithm realizes the adaptive model set by adaptive grid adjustment, and obtains each model matching degree in the model set by fuzzy logic inference. The simulation results show that the AGFIMM algorithm can effectively improve the accuracy and cost-efficiency ratio of the multiple model algorithm, and as a result is suitable for enineering apolications.