Using target RCS to aid measurement-to-track association in multi-target tracking

Closely-spaced targets are a common challenge in multiple target tracking problems involving radar. If the targets are too close together, they may not be resolved by the radar. Even if they are far enough apart to be resolved, their states may be sufficiently close to make measurement-to-track association difficult, leading to data association errors in the tracker and degraded track quality. In response to this problem, this paper investigates three methods of exploiting measurement signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as part of the assignment problem. If the radar cross sections (RCS) of closely-spaced targets differ significantly, this amplitude term can play a significant role, allowing measurements to be correctly assigned to tracks