A New Smoothing Approach with Diverse Fixed-lags Based on Target Motion Model

Recently, lots of smoothing techniques have been presented for maneuvering target tracking. Interacting multiple model-probabilistic data association (IMM-PDA) fixed-lag smoothing algorithm provides an efficient solution to track a maneuvering target in a cluttered environment. Whereas, the smoothing lag of each model in a model set is a fixed constant in traditional algorithms. A new approach is developed in this paper. Although this method is still based on IMM-PDA approach to a state augmented system, it adopts different smoothing lag according to diverse degrees of complexity of each model. As a result, the application is more flexible and the computational load is reduced greatly. Some simulations were conducted to track a highly maneuvering target in a cluttered environment using two sensors. The results illustrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm over comparative schemes, both in accuracy of track estimation and the computational load.