MULTIPLE HYPOTHESIS TRACKING USING MAXIMUM WEIGHT INDEPENDENT SET

• US 20130234882A1
• Filed: 03/09/2012
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Ploplys, Nicholas J., Kenefic, Richard J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,291,708 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/96
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/726 Multiple target tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/66 Sonar tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/66 Tracking systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/295 Means for transforming co-ordinates or for evaluating data, e.g. using computers

Abstract

The technology described herein includes a system and/or a method for multiple hypothesis tracking In some examples, a multiple hypothesis tracking system includes a receiver, an array generation module, and a local search move module. The receiver is configured to receive tracking data associated with one or more target families from one or more sensors. The array generation module is configured to generate a matrix array based on the tracking data. The local search move module is configured to perform one or more local search moves on one or more cells in the matrix array to increase a global hypothesis score for the tracking data.

Claims

1. A multiple hypothesis tracking system, the system comprising:

a receiver configured to receive tracking data associated with one or more target families from one or more sensors;

an array generation module configured to generate a matrix array based on the tracking data; and

a local search move module configured to perform one or more local search moves on one or more cells in the matrix array to increase a global hypothesis score for the tracking data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more local search moves comprises exchanging cells associated with a same target family in the matrix array, exchanging cells associated with different target families in the matrix array, removing a cell in the matrix array, adding a cell in the matrix array, or any combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a track identification module configured to identify a track for a target object based on the matrix array.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the array generation module further configured to:

identify target families in the tracking data; and

associate the identified target families with a cell in the matrix array.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a global hypothesis score module configured to generate the global hypothesis score based on the matrix array.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein each target family in the one or more target families is associated with a target object.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each associated target object is a ground vehicle, an air vehicle, a space vehicle, a water vehicle, or any combination thereof.

8. A multiple hypothesis tracking method, the method comprising:

(a) receiving tracking data associated with one or more target families from one or more sensors;

(b) generating a matrix array based on the tracking data;

(c) performing one or more local search moves on one or more cells in the matrix array to increase a global hypothesis score for the tracking data;

(d) repeating the performing step (c) based on the global hypothesis score.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more local search moves comprises exchanging cells in the matrix array, removing a cell in the matrix array, adding a cell in the matrix array, or any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the cells in the matrix array are associated with a same target family.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the generating step (b) further comprising (b-1) converting the tracking data into a plurality of vertices, each vertex in the plurality of vertices is associated with a target track.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the performing step (c) further comprising (c-1) generating the global hypothesis score based on the matrix array.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein each cell in the matrix cell array is associated with a target family in the one or more target families and each target family in the one or more target families is associated with one or more compatible target tracks.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein each target family in the one or more target families is associated with a target object.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein each associated target object is a ground vehicle, an air vehicle, a space vehicle, a water vehicle, or any combination thereof.

16. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in an information carrier, the computer program product including instructions being operable to cause a data processing apparatus to:

receive tracking data associated with one or more target families from one or more sensors;

generate a matrix array based on the tracking data; and

perform one or more local search moves on one or more cells in the matrix array to increase a global hypothesis score for the tracking data.