The effect of various filters on covariance consistency in the presence of a nonlinear tracking problem
Laura J. Ritter, B. S. Weir · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2007
The new generation of high resolution radars now being developed present a nonlinear tracking problem due to a combination of long target ranges, small range errors, and relatively imprecise angle measurements. A variety of filtering techniques have been proposed for ameliorating the effects of this non-linearity, including the (debiased) converted measurements Kalman filter and the unscented filter. The benefits of these techniques are often described in terms of tracking error; however, for handover of a dense target complex to downrange sensors, it is as important that the errors be consistent with their ascribed covariance. The purpose of this paper is to identify when the nonlinear conversion bias effects covariance consistency by examining the relative performance of various filtering techniques.