A CKF based spatial alignment of radar and infrared sensors

Spatial alignment is the prerequisite for the successful data fusion of multiple sensors. A CKF based spatial alignment algorithm for the estimation of bias between radar and infrared sensors on a same platform is presented. The system dynamics of this problem is established in a hybrid coordinate, i.e., the target position in the spherical coordinate while the target speed in the Cartesian one. The system bias is then estimated by the cubature Kalman filter (CKF) in an augmented system state equation. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is effective and efficient.