ML-PMHT track detection threshold determination for K-distributed clutter
Steven Schoenecker, Peter Willett, Yaakov Bar‐Shalom · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2014
Recentwork developed a novelmethod for determining tracking thresholds for theMaximumLikelihood ProbabilisticMulti- Hypothesis Tracker (ML-PMHT). Under certain “ideal” conditions, probability density functions (PDFs) for the peak points in the ML-PMHT log-likelihood ratio (LLR) due to just clutter measurements could be calculated. Analysis of these clutter-induced peak PDFs allowed for the calculation of tracking thresholds, which previously had to be donewith time-consumingMonte Carlo simulations. However, this work was done for a very specific case: the amplitudes of both target and cluttermeasurements followed Rayleigh distributions. The Rayleigh distribution is a very light-tailed distribution, and it can be overly optimistic in predicting that high-SNR measurements are target-originated. This work examines the case where the clutter amplitudes do not follow a Rayleigh distribution at all, but instead follow a K-distribution, which more accurately describes active acoustic clutter. This will provide a framework for determining accurate tracking thresholds for the ML-PMHT algorithm.