An improved tracking algorithm of maneuvering targets based on CSHGMM

This research aims at improving Detect and Avoid (DAA) functions in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) using a Multiple Model Estimation algorithm to track maneuvering intruders. This research builds on previous work that used predefined aircraft encounter trajectories. An established encounter model generates the intruder trajectories while a multiple model algorithm is introduced to improve intruder dynamics estimation. A new method based on the Kalman prediction phase inside the Interactive Multiple Model (IMM) algorithm is presented to estimate time to closest point of approach, horizontal miss distance, and vertical separation. An analysis of the sensor error on the algorithm estimation and the sensor field of regard requirement from the Air-to-Air Radar Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) is performed. The efficiency of the trajectory estimation has direct implication on the estimation of the intruder trajectory in relation to the own aircraft. The methods described in this research can aid a certification authority in determining if a DAA system is sufficient for safely integration of UAS into the National Airspace System.

This paper presents a simple yet efficient adaptive Kalman filter for tracking targets expected to perform varying turn maneuvers. The process noise covariance level of a second order Kalman filter is adjusted at each time step according to the calculated turn rate. The turning rate is estimated from the magnitude of the calculated acceleration divided by the estimated speed of the target. At each scan the previous and current velocity estimates are used to calculate the acceleration. The comparison of the performance of the proposed algorithm is made with that of an interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm, employing three models with different levels of process noise covariance and also to that of a second order Kalman filter. Two different assumptions have been made for selecting the process noise values for the the IMM and Kalman filter algorithms, in the first case it was assumed that there was no prior information about the target motion whereas in the second case it was assumed that the largest turn rate that the target of interest could perform was known. The IMM algorithm utilizing three models gives slightly better estimates during the nonmaneuvering periods, but the proposed algorithm is superior to the IMM algorithm during maneuvering periods in terms of estimation errors. Also the proposed algorithm requires 78% less computation, almost the same number of calculations required by a single fixed process noise Kalman filter, than the IMM algorithm.

The grid points of the Adaptive Grid Interactive Multiple Model (AGIMM) algorithm change slowly at the target high maneuvering and fluctuate when the target is moving at a constant speed. The paper proposes an improved AGIMM algorithm based on maneuverability of target. Firstly, divide the Maneuverability zones by Filter residuals. Secondly, according to different zones, the grid points are updated in different ways to speed up the convergence of the model when the target is high maneuvering, and reduce the fluctuation of the model when the target is low maneuvering. Realize the model update method according to the target maneuverability adaptive adjustment. The simulation shows that the improved algorithm significantly reduces the tracking error regardless of whether the target turns or not.

Variable Structure Multiple Model (VSMM) estimation generalizes Multiple Model (MM) estimation by assuming that the set of models used for MM estimation is time varying. By using VSMM estimation, a large model set which may cover all possible target maneuvers can be used without significant increase of computational load, while maintaining a reasonable estimation accuracy. Various implementable VSMM algorithms, like Model Group Switching (MGS), Likely Model Set (LMS) and Minimal Sub-Model-Set Switching (MSMSS) using the Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) algorithm with a sub-model-set adaptation logic have appeared in the recent literature. However, the use of these algorithms for tracking maneuvering target in clutter has not been explored. In presence of clutter, one need to use data association technique to differentiate target originated measurement from clutter. The probabilistic data association (PDA) has been popularly adopted to many algorithms for tracking in clutter. In this paper, we integrate PDA technique with MSMSS and propose a VSIMM-PDA algorithm for maneuvering target tracking in clutter. A new grating technique to account for potential model errors is used. A numeric example via multiple Monte Carlo runs, which compares the performance of the new algorithm to a standard IMM-PDA in terms of Root Mean Squared error (RMS) and percentage of track loss, is presented.© (2003) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

The interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm is specially designed to track accurately targets whose state and measurement models changes during motion transition. However, when these models are nonlinear, the IMM algorithm must be modified in order to guarantee an accurate track. Recently, the cubature Kalman filter (CKF) has been proposed to estimate the nonlinear system, and could perform better than unscented Kalman filter (UKF). In this paper, the IMM algorithm CKF based (IMM-CKF) is presented to track the maneuvering target using angular measurements. The simulation results demonstrate the improved performance of IMM-CKF over IMM-UKF, and the execution time of the former algorithm is shorter than the latter.

Hybrid systems consist of both continuous state evolutions and discrete state (or mode) transitions. In many hybrid systems, mode transitions are governed by guard conditions that are dependent on the continuous state. These kind of mode transitions can be described by continuous-state-dependent mode transition probabilities. However, most multiple model Kalman filter based algorithms, such as the well-known interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm, assume constant mode transition probabilities. We propose a hybrid estimation algorithm based on the IMM approach for the stochastic hybrid systems with continuous-state-dependent transitions. We first develop two models to describe the guard conditions for various stochastic hybrid systems. From the models of the guard conditions, we derive the corresponding continuous-state-dependent mode transition probabilities, which are expressed in terms of Gaussian probability density functions (pdfs) or Gaussian cumulative density functions (cdfs). We then propose a hybrid estimation algorithm for the stochastic hybrid systems based on the IMM algorithm. Like the IMM algorithm, our algorithm utilizes Gaussian distributions to represent the continuous state pdfs which are updated analytically at each time step. We also use analytical integration methods to reduce the computational cost of updating the mode probabilities. As a result, the proposed algorithm is computationally efficient and is applicable to high-dimensional problems. The performance of the proposed algorithm is illustrated with two examples in air traffic control tracking applications.

The Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) algorithm has been used in various applications with good performance. However, to the best of our knowledge, stability conditions of the IMM algorithm have not been shown in the control literature. This technical note presents a sufficient condition for the exponential stability of the IMM algorithm for a class of Markov jump linear systems. We derive a lower bound and an upper bound for the error covariances of the IMM algorithm, and then derive the stability condition by the Lyapunov approach.

Combining the interacting multiple model (IMM) and the unscented particle filter (UPF), a new multiple model filtering algorithm is presented. Multiple models can adapt to targets’ high maneuvering. Particle filter can deal with the nonlinear or non-Gaussian problems and the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) may improve the approximate accuracy. Compared with other interacting multiple model algorithms in the target tracking simulations, the results demonstrate the validity of the new filtering method, that is, particle filter with the UKF proposal.

The generalized Shiryayev sequential probability ratio test (SSPRT) is applied to linear dynamic systems for singlefault isolation and estimation. The algorithm turns out to be the multiple model (MM) algorithm considering all thepossible model trajectories. In real application, this algorithm must be approximated due to its increasing computationcomplexity and the unknown parameters of the fault severeness. The Gaussian mixture reduction is employed toaddress the problem of computation complexity. The unknown parameters are estimated in real time by modelaugmentation based on maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) or expectation. Hence, the system state estimation,fault identification and estimation can be fulfilled simultaneously by a multiple model algorithm incorporating these twotechniques. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by Monte Carlo simulation. Although ouralgorithm is developed under the assumption of single fault, it can be generalized to deal with the case of (infrequent)sequential multiple faults. The case of simultaneous faults is more complicated and will be considered in future work.

In the paper, we consider an application of the genetic approach to improve the performance of the trajectory tracking procedure. Our aim is to reduce the horizontal position estimation errors. The procedure is based on the well known Interacting Multiple Model algorithm and has many parameters to be adjusted, e.g., elements of the transition probability matrix. A genetic tuning algorithm is elaborated and some numerical experiments on simulated aircraft trajectories are made.

Recently, targets tracking plays an important role in the rapidly expanding field of autonomous driving. With the presentation of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication standards and the improvement of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology, the accuracy of cooperative vehicle tracking should be greatly improved. However, high-precision positioning suffers from a number of vulnerabilities and is unstable in clutter environment. In this paper, a modified approach using particle filter (PF) integrated with Interacting Multiple Models (IMM) algorithm is proposed to improve the accuracy of cooperative vehicle tracking in changing V2V environment. This paper focuses on a novel framework for cooperative vehicle tracking and implementation of data fusion originating from positioning information receiving from radars and connected vehicles. The simulations on scenarios of single vehicle and multi-vehicle tracking were implemented by utilizing Matlab. The performance of the proposed modified IMM-PF algorithm was evaluated. The results demonstrated that the proposed approach can adapt to a changing accuracy of positioning information and significantly reduce the tracking errors by approximately 50% compared with traditional methods. Consequently, the proposed method can effectively enhance the security and reliability of autonomous driver assistance systems, and its application has potential to support urban planning for smart cities.

An interacting Fuzzy-Fading-Memory-based Augmented Kalman Filtering method for maneuvering target tracking

The interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm is a widely accepted state estimation scheme for solving maneuvering target tracking problems, which are generally nonlinear. During the IMM filtering process, serious errors can arise when a Gaussian mixture of posterior probability density functions is approximated by a single Gaussian. Particle filters (PFs) are effective in dealing with nonlinearity and non-Gaussianity. This work considers an IMM algorithm that includes a constant velocity model, a constant acceleration model and a 3D turning rate (3DTR) model for tracking three-dimensional (3D) target motion, using various combinations of nonlinear filters. In existing literature on combining IMM and particle filtering techniques to tackle difficult target maneuvers, a PF is usually used in every model In comparison, simulation results show that by using a computationally economical PF in the 3DTR model and Kalman filters in the remaining models, superior performance can be achieved with significant reduction in computational costs.

In this paper, we present an efficient filtering algorithm to perform accurate estimation in jump Markov nonlinear systems, in case of multi-target tracking. With this paper, we aim to contribute in solving the problem of model-based body motion estimation by using data coming from visual sensors. The interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm is specially designed to track accurately targets whose state and/or measurement (assumed to be linear) models changes during motion transition. However, when these models are nonlinear, the IMM algorithm must be modified in order to guarantee an accurate track. In this paper we propose to avoid the extended Kalman filter because of its limitations and substitute it with the unscented Kalman filter which seems to be more efficient especially according to the simulation results obtained with the nonlinear IMM algorithm (IMM-UKF). To resolve the problem of data association, we propose to use a Fuzzy approach. The later is then combined with the IMM-UKF algorithm; the derived algorithm is called fuzzy-IMM-UKF.

This paper mainly addresses the maneuvering targets detection and tracking problem in pulse Doppler radar using Dynamic Programming (DP) based Track-Before-Detect (TBD). Generally, the DP-TBD algorithm implicitly embeds the tracking stage into its framework using a predefined target model to determine the admissible searching paths. However, its performance will suffer severe loss due to the mismatching of target model when maneuver occurs. In this paper, to handle the target maneuvers, an improved DP-TBD algorithm is proposed, wherein the hidden state variable of radial acceleration is recursively estimated to help scheme the DP searching paths in a more appropriate way. Meantime, by employing the Current Statistical (CS) model, the DP integration process is modified which can adaptively adjust the searching region to avoid the interference of many noisy states involved by some impractical paths. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively improve the detection and tracking performance of DP-TBD.