In the battlefield surveillance domain, ground target tracking is used to evaluate the threat. Data used for tracking is given by a Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) sensor which only detects moving targets. Multiple target tracking has been widely studied but most of the algorithms have weaknesses when targets are close together, as they are in a convoy. In this work, we propose a filtering approach for convoys in the midst of civilian traffic. Inspired by particle filtering, our specific algorithm cannot be applied to all the targets because of its complexity. That is why well discriminated targets are tracked using an Interacting Multiple Model-Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (IMM-MHT), whereas the convoy targets are tracked with a specific particle filter. We make the assumption that the convoy is detected (position and number of targets). Our approach is based on an Independent Partition Particle Filter (IPPF) incorporating constraint-regions. The originality of our approach is to consider a velocity constraint (all the vehicles belonging to the convoy have the same velocity) and a group constraint. Consequently, the multitarget state vector contains all the positions of the individual targets and a single convoy velocity vector. When another target is detected crossing or overtaking the convoy, a specific algorithm is used and the non-cooperative target is tracked down an adapted particle filter. As demonstrated by our simulations, a high increase in convoy tracking performance is obtained with our approach.

Date Published: 17 April 2008
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 6968, Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion, and Target Recognition XVII, 696805 (17 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.777089

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6968:
Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion, and Target Recognition XVII
Ivan Kadar, Editor(s)