A Data Association Method for Maneuvering Target Tracking in Three-Dimensional Space under the Circumstance of Clutter

In maneuvering track tracking, the inaccurateness of the moving model leads to that of the forecasting center, which causes error data association. To solve the problem of data association for maneuvering target tracking in three-dimensional space under the circumstance of clutter, an assume that the current turn rate of a maneuvering target changes within a limited range and its turn may be in arbitrary direction is proposed for data association, thus the forecasting center of a target is a curved surface in 3-D space. The distance between a measurement and the curved surface is used to compute the degree of association between the measurement and the target. In order to reduce the computational complexity, the computing formula of the maneuvering direction and turn rate corresponding to a special measurement is presented. Simulation results show the proposed method improves the correctness of data association, reduces the percentage of lost tracks and improves the state estimating accuracy in tracking a maneuvering target under the circumstance of clutter.