TRACKING OF MULTIPLE MANEUVERING TARGETS IN A DENSE ENVIRONMENT

This paper discusses a multitarget tracking algorithm for use in a den se environment, where there exist other targets or clutter near the tr acking target. It is currently one of the most important technical pro blems in the air traffic control. The joint probabilistic data associa tion (JPDA) algorithm, considered to be a promising multitarget tracki ng algorithm, has the deficiency that the tracking of the multiple man euvering targets in a dense environment is difficult. This paper propo ses an algorithm in which the multiple motion models are obtained by u sing different constant acceleration vectors under the JPDA approach; six-dimensional motion models composed of the position and the velocit y of the target in three-dimensional space are used in parallel. In th is algorithm, the fuzziness due to the nonuniqueness of the motion mod el when the target maneuvers can be expressed in the calculation of th e gain matrix, the covariance matrix and the motion states of the targ et. In addition, it is possible to adjust the prediction region for th e observed vector (center and spread), according to the maneuvering of each target. Simulations indicate a remarkable improvement in the rat e of tracking success by the proposed algorithm, reaching several time s to ten times larger than that obtained in JPDA.