Analysis and simulation of passive target tracking algorithm under polar coordinates

Due to the inborn non-linearity and observability problem, passive tracking is more difficult than active tracking, and the conventional algorithms cannot be applied to passive tracking directly. First, a brief review of the research work conducted on observability is given, then a traditional passive tracking algorithm under polar coordinates and its deficiencies are analyzed. A target maneuver detector is added to the traditional passive tracking algorithm and Monte-Carlo simulation shows that the proposed algorithm could successfully track objects moving with piece-wise constant velocity. Finally, future research areas are pointed out.