Factor Graph Method for Target State Estimation in Bearing-Only Sensor Network

For target tracking and localization in bearing-only sensor network, it is an essential and significant challenge to solve the problem of plug-and-play expansion while stably enhancing the accuracy of state estimation. This paper proposes a distributed state estimation method based on two-layer factor graph. Firstly, the measurement model of the bearing-only sensor network is constructed, and by investigating the observability and the Cramer-Rao lower bound of the system model, the preconditions are analyzed. Subsequently, the location factor graph and cubature information filtering algorithm of sensor node pairs are proposed for localized estimation. Building upon this foundation, the mechanism for propagating confidence messages within the fusion factor graph is designed, and is extended to the entire sensor network to achieve global state estimation. Finally, groups of simulation experiments are conducted to compare and analyze the results, which verifies the rationality, effectiveness, and superiority of the proposed method.