A multiple target tracker for nonlinear rotational object motion using range and range-rate measurements.

摘要

In many applications, it is necessary to track an unknown number of targets with a remote sensor. Several applications for which radar is used to sense the environment include anti-aircraft warfare, tracking of space debris, and missile defense. If wideband radar is used, one can receive multiple returns from scatterers on a single object in one pulse. In the particular problem considered, it is necessary to track multiple scatterers on an unknown number of objects, whose motion includes a nonlinear rotational velocity component, with a generic wideband radar model. The measurements used are scatterer range and range-rate (in analogy to Doppler) and are nonlinear functions of the scatterer position and velocity, parameters in the state-space model. The tracker design uses an Extended Kalman Filter to model the nonlinear dynamics and measurement models and a multi-pronged association scheme to determine the scene and track its evolution over time.