Multiple Target Tracking With Out-of-Sequence GMTI/HRR Data

MRLets Technologies, Inc. proposes a new multiple target tracking system which has astrong capability to handle out-of-sequence multi-platform GMTI/HRR radar reports. Recognizing that one of the most important concerns about a GMTI/HRR tracking system is the ability to handle a very large number of tracks in the field of view, this proposal suggests a set of techniques for establishing the right trade-off between tracking performance and requirement on resources. An algorithm is proposed to predict the necessity for adding an out-of-sequence report. Clustering of tracks is suggested in order to decompose the correlation between groups of tracks. This new system is based on Wavelet Feature Aid Tracking (WFAT), which is a novel approach for joint tracking and target recognition.Two key system components for handling out-of-sequence data are a filter with (near) optimal back-propagation capability and a data associator with (near) optimal multiscan report assignment capability. The development starts with analysis of optimal designs. The resulting optimal designs shall form a benchmark system for further performance analysis. Constraints are then added to the optimal designs and practical solutions are obtained. Proof-of-concept simulations are proposed on both the optimal designs and practical designs. It is expected that an effective combination of the trade-off study and practical designs shall render the new tracking system with superior performance, and shall benefit many DoD and non-DoD applications.The proposed GMTI/HRR tracking system will primarily benefit military and aerospaceapplications, including surveillance/reconnaissance systems for battlefield command andcontrol. It also has great potential in commercial applications, such as highway trafficcontrol and safety systems.