Maneuvering target tracking using probability hypothesis density smoothing

Abstract

The Probability Hypothesis Density (PHD) filter is a computationally tractable alternative to the optimal nonlinear filter. The PHD filter propagates the first moment instead of the full posterior density. Evaluation of the PHD enables one to extract the number of targets as well as their individual states from noisy data with data association uncertainties. Recently, a smoothing algorithm was proposed by the authors to improve the capability of PHD based tracking. Smoothing produces delayed estimates, which yield better estimates not only for the target states but also for the unknown number of targets. However, in the case of the maneuvering target tracking problem, this single model method may not provide accurate estimates. In this paper, a multiple model PHD smoothing method is proposed to improve the tracking of multiple maneuvering targets. A fast sequential Monte Carlo implementation for a special case is also provided. Simulations are performed with the proposed method consisting of multiple maneuvering targets. Simulation results confirm the improved performance of the proposed algorithm.