JOINT DIRECTION-OF-ARRIVAL AND ARRAY-SHAPE TRACKING FOR MULTIPLE MOVING TARGETS

The problem of tracking the directions-of-arrival (DOA's) of multiple moving sonar targets with an array of passive sensors is complicated b y sensor movement. An algorithm for the joint tracking of source DOA's and sensor positions is presented to address this problem, Initial ma ximum-likelihood estimates of source DOA's and sensor positions are re fined by Kalman filtering. Spatio-temporally correlated array movement is considered, Source angle dynamics are used to achieve correct data association. The new technique is capable of performing well for the difficult cases of sources that cross in angle as web as for fully coh erent sources. Computer simulations show that the approach is robust i n the presence of array motion modeling uncertainty and effectively re duces dependence on expensive and possibly unreliable hardware.