Extension-deformation approach to extended object tracking

This paper presents a new approach based on extension deformation for extended object tracking (EOT). In this approach, the extension of an object is assumed to be deformed from a reference extension by moving some control points in the latter to those in the former. That is, the properties of an extension can be fully captured by the control points, given the reference extension. Thus, modeling and estimation of the extension can be reduced to those of the control points. In this way, not only various extended objects can be described conveniently, but also the extension-evolution model can be simplified. Moreover, the measurement model derived from the extended object model is linear, which largely simplifies estimation. In addition, an online adaptation method is proposed to incorporate online information into the reference extension, so the proposed approach can describe and estimate the extension accurately. Simulation results of scenarios for maneuvering EOT are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.