Course-Aided Measurement-to-Track Association for Target Tracking With Compact HF Radar

Data association is an important procedure in target tracking with high-frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR). In most existing target tracking methods, only range, azimuth, and Doppler velocity parameters are involved in data association. However, for data association under scenarios of inaccurate azimuth measurements, dense clutter, and multiple targets, employing these three kinematic parameters alone may not achieve satisfactory performance. In this paper, from the perspective of track consistency, the vessel course is investigated and explored as a stable feature for data association, and a course-aided measurement-to-track association method is developed. The target course data sequence is firstly estimated by applying a course estimation method to an initiated short track, then each candidate plot within a validation gate is added to the track to generate one candidate course, the candidate plot that causes the minimum course difference is assigned to update the target track. Experimental results with field data demonstrate that the data association accuracy is improved by the proposed method, and better track continuity is achieved.