A Single-pass Noise Covariance Estimation Algorithm in Adaptive Kalman Filtering for Non-stationary Systems

Estimation of unknown noise covariances in a Kalman filter is a problem of significant practical interest in a wide array of applications. This paper presents a single-pass stochastic gradient descent (SGD) algorithm for noise covariance estimation for use in adaptive Kalman filters applied to non-stationary systems where the noise covariances can occasionally jump up or down by an unknown magnitude. Unlike our previous batch method or our multi-pass decision-directed algorithm, the proposed streaming algorithm reads measurement data exactly once and has acceptable root mean square error (RMSE). The computational efficiency of the new algorithm stems from its single-pass nature, recursive fading memory estimation of the sample cross-correlations of the innovations, and the RMSprop accelerated SGD algorithm. The comparative evaluation of the proposed method on a number of test cases demonstrates its computational efficiency and accuracy.