On polar and versus Cartesian coordinates for target tracking

A comparison between tracking in polar coordinates using coupled range and angle filters versus tracking with debiased consistent converted measurements in Cartesian coordinates is presented. The measurements include range, range-rate, azimuth and elevation and are assumed to arrive from an airborne pulse Doppler radar. The paper quantifies the improvements in accuracy (position, range-rate and heading) achievable by the use of a filter in Cartesian coordinates based on debiased converted range, azimuth and elevation with incorporated range-rate measurements