Reducing MHT computational requirements through use of cheap JPDA methods
Hector A. Quevedo, Samuel S. Blackman, T. Nichols, Robert J. Dempster, R. Wenski · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2001
Hypothesis formation is a major computational burden for any multiple hypotheses tracking (MHT) method. In particular, a track-oriented MHT method defines compatible tracks to be tracks not sharing common observations and then re-forms hypotheses from compatible tracks after each new scan of data is received. The Cheap Joint Probabilistic Data Association (CJPDA) method provides an efficient means for computing approximate hypothesis probabilities. This paper presents a method of extending CJPDA calculations in order to eliminate low probability track branches in a track-oriented MHT method. The method is tested using IRST data. This approach reduces the number of tracks in a cluster and the resultant computations required for hypothesis formation. It is also suggested that the use of CJPDA methods can reduce assignment matrix sizes and resultant computations for the hypothesis-oriented (Reid’s algorithm) MHT implementation.