Doppler-aided target tracking in heavy clutter

Target tracking in clutter uses measurements of uncertain origin. In addition to target detections, in every scan the sensor returns clutter measurements. Standard target tracking in clutter most often uses the position measurements only. The tracking then becomes clutter limited, and beyond a limited clutter measurement density target tracking algorithms do not perform. Using the Doppler information of each measurement can significantly increase these limits. Previous publications used Doppler measurements either to improve the data association probabilities only, or to improve trajectory state estimates only. Whilst it helps, it often is not enough. This paper extends popular Integrated Probabilistic Data Association to use Doppler information in the track update step both to enhance the Data Association probabilities, and to improve trajectory state estimation. A simulation study shows that this approach may provide reliable automatic target tracking in the case of severe clutter.