Doppler-aided track initiation algorithm

Abstract

For traditional track initiation algorithms, target tracks are usually initiated using position measurements. However, many radar systems can also provide Doppler measurements. In this paper, we study how to perform track initiation based on position measurements plus Doppler measurements. Due to the fact that target radial velocity usually does not change too much at the track initiation stage, it is reasonable to assume that a target will appear at the same Doppler channel. With this concept, we construct radial range constraint based on Doppler measurement and spatial location constraint based on a maximum velocity, and select validated measurements at the same Doppler channel of a given track head. Numerical results indicate that the proposed algorithm can decrease the false track probability and the average false track number to a large extent. Besides, compared with the traditional sequential track initiation strategy, a better track initiation performance can be obtained at the same false track level.