Data association approach for two dimensional tracking based on bearing-only measurements in clutter environment

This paper mainly studies angle-measurement based data association algorithm to overcome the existing problems in the applications of traditional association approaches for bearing-only target locating and tracking system. First, this paper proposes a fast track initiation approach for the system using a single passive sensor. In this approach, the rules of screening out threatening targets are set by analyzing the characteristics of target motion in two dimensional bearing-only coordinates. And the track initiation of threatening targets is implemented in the shortest time based on a modified heuristic algorithm using these rules. Then, other target tracks are initialized based on a logic-based algorithm in two dimensional bearing-only coordinates as a supplement. At last, by deeply studying different point-track association algorithms and comparing the association effect between JPDA and NNDA in bearing-only coordinate, suitable angle-measurement based association algorithm is presented. As the results, the confirming efficiency of the bearing-only measurements is improved and false tracking with the dense clutter is limited. The application of this algorithm has effectively resolved the track association problem of the bearing-only tracking using a single passive sensor. The application of the proposed approach in a simulation system proves its effectiveness and practicability.