Outline

EE793 Target Tracking: Lecture 2

Introduction to Target Tracking
Introduction to Target Tracking
Umut Orguner Measurements
[email protected] Targets
room: EZ-12 tel: 4425
Multiple Sensors
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Middle East Technical University
Ankara, Turkey

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Introduction to Target Tracking (TT) A Conventional TT System

Definition
A target is anything whose state is of interest to us.

Measurement Gating & Estimation &

State we are interested in can change with time with a certain Processing Association Prediction
dynamics which is itself unknown.
TRACKER
Measurement origins are uncertain.
Track
There are false measurements PF A > 0. Predictions Handling
Some measurements are missing PD < 1.
We generally have no initial guess or estimate.
USER
Definition
Target tracking, in its most general and abstract form, is a realistic
version of dynamic estimation theory.

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Measurements Measurements

Definition Thresholding Illustration with a Radar

The term measurement contains all observed quantities included
in a (possibly processed) report output from a sensor.

Measurement (pre)processing generally includes a form of

thresholding (measurement detection) process.
Information loss during the thresholding is evident. In very low
SNR scenarios, thresholding might not be used, which leads to
Track Before Detect algorithms with high computation cost.
We consider point or contact measurements.
This means lots of processing that is out of hands of the
TT-engineer. What is PD , what is PF A ? Good modeling of Figures taken from: Y. Boers, H. Driessen, J. Torstensson, M. Trieb, R. Karlsson, F. Gustafsson,
“Track-before-detect algorithm for tracking extended targets,” IEE Proceedings – Radar, Sonar and Navigation,
measuring process must be obtained. vol.153, no.4, pp.345–351, August 2006.

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Measurements Measurements

Types of measurement sources:

Types of point measurements:
One of targets that has been previously observed;
Kinematic measurements e.g.,
A new target;
Position (pixel indices),
Range, False alarm (clutter).
Range rate (radar doppler),
Bearing. Clutter
Attribute measurements e.g., A false measurement (false alarm or clutter) in tracking
Signal strength, terminology generally refers to the concept of persistency.
Intensity, In other words, a persistent false alarm (clutter) is considered
Aspect ratio,
a target to be tracked even if we are not interested in what or
Target type.
where it is.
We are going to be concerned with only the kinematic
If one of our interesting targets gets in the vicinity of
measurements.
uninteresting false targets, we become prepared.

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Measurements: Modeling Measurements: Modeling

Target originated measurements:

Target originated measurements:
No sensor is perfect.
yk = h(xjk ) + ek In addition to sensor measurement noise ek , there is a
detection process with probability PD < 1 in many sensors.
Example models: Detection probability PD can be a characteristics of the sensor
Simple Cartesian Range (raw measurement processing algorithm) as well as the target
q state, i.e., PD might depend on the specific target position
iT
(xjk )2 + (ykj )2 + ek and velocity and it can vary from target to target.
h
yk = xjk ykj + ek yk =
It is generally difficult to find an exact formula for PD .
Bearing only log range (received signal strength (RSS)) Approximations and heuristics abound.
  Every obtained measurement from the sensor includes two
yk = arctan(ykj /xjk ) + ek yk = α log (xjk )2 + (ykj )2 + ek sources of information:
1. Detection info PD ; 2. The actual value of the measurement yk .

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Measurements: Modeling Targets: Tracks

Clutter: Non-persistent measurements which are not originated

from a target.
Prior information is important. Definition
Clutter maps are sometimes existent. A track is a sequence of measurements that has been decided or
Sensor (processing algorithm) characteristics hypothesized by the tracker to come from a single source.
Some characteristics might be available from the
manufacturer.
Experiments might be performed. Usually, instead of the list of actual measurements, sufficient
statistics is held e.g., mean and covariance in the case of a
The case of minimal prior info
KF, particles in the case of a PF.
Number of F As in a region with volume V is Spatial F A distribution: Generally each arriving measurement must start or update a
modeled as a Poisson distribution with clutter Uniform in every region track. Hence tracks must be classified and must not be
rate βF A (number of FAs per area per scan). with volume V .
PD is included in PF A .
treated equally.
1
FA
(βF A V )mk exp(−βF A V ) pF A (yk ) =
PF A (mF A V
k ) =
mF A
k !

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Targets: Tracks Targets: Types
We can characterize targets considered in target tracking into
categories depending on their size with respect to sensor resolution
Track types: According to their different life stages, tracks can be (depends on target-sensor distance too).
classified into 3 cases. Point target: A target that can result in at most a single
measurement.
Tentative (initiator): A track that is in the track initiation
This means its magnitude is comparable to sensor resolution.
process. We are not sure that there is sufficient evidence that
Extended target: A target that can result in multiple
it is actually a target or not.
measurements at a single scan.
Confirmed: A track that was decided to belong to a valid Sometimes, an extended target can also be treated as a point
target in the surveillance area. This is one end of initiation target by tracking its centroid or corners.
process. Unresolved targets: This denotes a group of close targets
Deleted: At the other end of the initiation process, this is a that can collectively result in a single measurement in the
track that is decided to come from all random F As. All of its sensor.
info should be deleted. Dim target: This is a target which results in returns that
cannot be separated from noise by simple thresholding. These
can be tracked much better with track before detect (TBD)
type approaches.
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Targets: Modeling Targets: Modeling

General state space model General state space model

xk = f (xk−1 ) + wk xk = f (xk−1 ) + wk

Example models Example models

(Nearly) constant velocity model (Nearly) constant velocity model
      2        2 
xk 1 T xk−1 T /2 xk 1 T xk−1 T /2
xk , = x + ak xk , = x + ak
vkx 0 1 vk−1 T vkx 0 1 vk−1 T

where ak ∼ N (0, σa2 ) is a white noise. where ak ∼ N (0, σa2 ) is a white noise.
(Nearly) constant acceleration model (Nearly) constant acceleration model

1 T T 2 /2
  2
1 T T 2 /2
           2 
xk xk−1 T /2 xk xk−1 T /2
x x
xk ,  vkx  =  0 1 T   vk−1  +  T  ηk xk ,  vkx  =  0 1 T   vk−1  +  T  ηk
axk 0 0 1 axk−1 1 axk 0 0 1 axk−1 1

where ηk ∼ N (0, ση2 ) is a white noise. where ηk ∼ N (0, ση2 ) is a white noise.
How to select the noise parameters?
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 Targets: Modeling Targets: Filtering

When measurements corresponding to a target are obtained, the

(Nearly) Coordinated turn model, i.e., nearly constant speed, calculation of the sufficient statistics is done via state estimators
constant turn rate model (filters).
T
State with Cartesian velocity xk , xk yk vkx vky ωk

. Early tracking systems: very low computational capacity =⇒
Steady state Kalman filters: α − β and α − β − γ-filters.
 sin(ωk−1 T ) 1−cos(ωk−1 T ) 
1 0 ωk−1 − ωk−1 0

T 2 /2 0 0
 Kept only an integer quality indicator instead of covariance.
 1−cos(ωk−1 T ) sin(ωk−1 T ) 
0 T 2 /2 0 Kalman filters (KFs) and extended KFs are the most common
0 1 0
 
ωk−1 ωk−1
   
xk =   xk−1 +   ηk approaches.
 
T 0 0
 0 0 cos(ωk−1 T ) − sin(ωk−1 T ) 0   
 0 T 0 
Unscented KF (UKF) and other sigma-point approaches got
 0 0 sin(ωk−1 T ) cos(ωk−1 T ) 0 
0 0 1 much criticism (and undermining) from “orthodox” people in
0 0 0 0 1
the field when they were first introduced. Particle filters (PFs)
There are versions with polar velocity. were despised.
This model was taken from [Bar-Shalom (2001)]. With the ever increasing computational resources, they are
now commonly accepted as valid methods for target tracking.

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Targets: Model Mismatch Targets: Model Mismatch

State estimators for kinematic models are sophisticated

low-pass filters. Definition
The bandwidth of the filter is a trade-off between A maneuver is any motion characteristics that the target is
1 Following the target motion assuming other than the model used by the filter.
2 Reducing the noise (clutter,measurement noise)
The model mismatch problem in target tracking is called Maneuvers degrade the filter performance and makes the
maneuvers. estimators susceptible to noise and clutter.
Unlike the common concept of maneuvers in real life, a Maneuvers, hence, should be checked continuously.
maneuver might not necessarily be a higher order motion than Since target maneuvers are often in a set of finite number of
that of the filter model. models, multiple model approaches (Interacting multiple
When one is using a high order model and the target is model (IMM) filter being the most famous) became popular.
assuming a lower order model than the filter, this is also a Using all possible models at the same time made hypothesis
valid maneuver for target tracking filters. checks about maneuvers unnecessary.
This is because, the filter could have been using a lower order
model and reduced the noise levels even more.
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Targets & Measurements Targets & Measurements

Definition
Definition Gating is the process of using prior information or the sufficient
Association is the process of assigning measurements to existing statistics for a track to exclude the possibility of assigning a
tracks or existing tracks to measurements (measurement-to-track measurement to the track. The region in the measurement space
association vs. track-to-measurement association). that the measurements are allowed to be assigned to the target is
called as the gate.
In a classical air traffic control (ATC) application, there are
hundreds of targets and measurements.
Using maximum velocity assumptions yk1
yk2
Possible combinations are incredibly many. 3
ŷk|k−1
about the target can give coarse gates.
Not all of the possible associations are physically feasible. y yk3
More detailed gates are formed using the yk5 yk4
One must exclude these highly unlikely combinations from predicted measurement means and
1
ŷk|k−1 2
ŷk|k−1
yk7
further consideration as soon as possible. innovations (measurement prediction) yk6

covariances of the track.

x

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Targets & Measurements Multiple Sensors: Centralized Tracking Case

Even if gating reduces the number possible association

combinations, there still remains some association uncertainty. Measurement
These are handled by some other association algorithms: Processing

Nearest neighbors (NN) (single, in general, non-global (local)

hard decision)
Global nearest neighbors (GNN) (single unique hard decision) Measurement Measurement
TRACKER
(Joint) probabilistic data associations (JPDA) (soft decisions, Processing Association

i.e., no decision or decision with probabilities)

Multi hypothesis tracking (MHT) (making hard but multiple
USER
decisions and keeping them until sufficient evidence arrives) Measurement
Processing
What association algorithm to use depends on the SNR of the
system and amount of computational resources that can be
allocated to association.

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Multiple Sensors: Decentralized Tracking Case Multiple Sensors

Architecture Issues:
Measurement
TRACKER
Processing Centralized approach is optimal.
Communication constraints make it unattractive because
measurement communication rates are generally higher than
Measurement Track
TRACKER Association track communication rates.
Processing
& Fusion
Some of the computations can also be distributed in the
decentralized case.
Measurement System’s susceptibility to failures in the tracking center is
TRACKER
Processing USER
also an important issue.
We are going to concentrate on the decentralized architecture.

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Multiple Sensors Multiple Sensors

Definition
Registration: Alignment of the coordinate axes of two or more local
sensors/trackers and finding the correspondences between them. Definition
Track association: Process of deciding whether two or more
Definition tracks obtained from local trackers are coming from the same
Bias: Registration errors. source.

Definition Definition
Out of sequence measurements: Measurements delayed in the Track fusion: Process of combining the sufficient statistics of two
communication which arrive into the fusion center after a more current or more tracks from local trackers when they are associated to
measurement from the same source has already been processed. each other.
tk−`−1 tk−` τ tk−`+1 tk−`+2 tk−1 tk
target time Important issue: Correlation between the local estimation errors
although the local sensors measurement errors are independent.

fusion center time

tk−`−1 tk−` tk−`+1 tk−`+2 tk−1 tk tk+1

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References References

Y. Bar-Shalom, P. K. Willett and X. Tian, Tracking and Data Fusion: A

S. Blackman and R. Popoli, Design and Analysis of Modern Tracking Systems,
Handbook of Algorithms, YBS Publishing, 2011.
Norwood, MA: Artech House, 1999.
Y. Bar-Shalom and X. R. Li, Multitarget-Multisensor Tracking: Principles, S. Challa, M. R. Morelande, D. Musicki and R. J. Evans, Fundamentals of
Techniques, Storrs, CT: YBS Publishing, 1995. Object Tracking, Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Y. Bar-Shalom, X. R. Li, and T. Kirubarajan, Estimation with Applications to M. Mallick, V. Krishnamurthy and B.-N. Vo (Editors), Integrated Tracking,
Tracking and Navigation, New York: Wiley, 2001. Classification, and Sensor Management: Theory and Applications, John Wiley
& Sons, 2012.
Y. Bar-Shalom and T. E. Fortmann, Tracking and Data Association, Orlando,
R. P. S. Mahler, Statistical Multisource-Multitarget Information Fusion, Artech
FL: Academic Press, 1988.
House, 2007.
S. Blackman, Multiple Target Tracking with Radar Applications, Norwood, MA:
B. Ristic, S. Arulampalam and N. Gordon, Beyond the Kalman Filter: Particle
Artech House, 1986.
Filters for Tracking Applications, Artech House, 2004.

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