Fusion of reduced-rank TMA estimates

The problem of bearings-only target motion analysis (TR-W) in incompletly o bservable situations is considered. Both target and observer trajectories a re rectilinear uniform motions (RUMs). A specific method is first establish ed for the estimation of such reduced-rank TR ZA (RR-TMA). Then, the statis tical fusion of two (or more) RR-TMA estimates into a complete observable T MA is established. Remarkably, this second stage is analytical. Finally the fusion algorithm is shown to be efficient for a reasonable domain of measu rement errors. Applications are listed among radar and sonar tracking probl ems. They are specially encountered in large-scale multiplatform situations where combinatorial testing of multiple hypotheses is a big issue, or in l ong-term integration of moving targets where the dimension reduction of the search-grid is critical.