Track fitting and antennas Original Research Article

The problem of fitting track data is transformed into a problem in antenna theory. This latter well-studied problem is characterized as an antenna array that is receiving a narrow band signal from multiple distant sources. The goal here is to count the number of sources and determine the angle of each source relative to the array. Similarly, the original problem of track fitting is to count the number and to determine the location and angle of each track, but in the presence of noise and finite detection efficiency. However, an additional complication in fitting tracks is that in a magnetic field, the radius of curvature of the track must also be determined. This is shown to map into an extended antenna problem of analyzing `chirpedʹ or frequency modulated sources. A somewhat detailed development and discussion of track parameter estimation utilizing Bayesian methods is then given. The main goal of this paper is to point out the relationship between these disparate problems. No numerical comparisons with established methods are given.