Multi-sensor multi-target tracking requires the solution to a challenging data association problem. The problem simplifies when a portion of the target state vector and the corresponding sensor data satisfy a particular Markovian assumption. This leads to quantifiable benefits in performance vs. complexity of the tracking solution. This paper summarizes recently-obtained technical advances in graph-based tracking and applies this to a benchmark study with respect to an advanced track-oriented multiple-hypothesis tracking solution.

This paper proposes a distributed MHT approach to passive sonar tracking for a field of fixed and moving sensors. It includes single-sensor narrowband and broadband measurement-space tracking at each sensor, followed by 2D Cartesian multi-sensor fusion. Tracking and fusion are performed in real time, with a small delay due to the MHT processing with each component of the architecture. Specific innovations include the use of statistically-consistent measurement-space target statistics, unbiased solution cross-fixing for Cartesian initialization, robust distributed MHT track scoring and management, and temporal uncertainty estimation to support targeting decisions.

Over the past several years, the NATO Undersea Research Centre has conducted extensive research in multisensor networks for undersea surveillance, culminating in the development of the DMHT tracker. In this paper, we discuss upgrades to this technology and its application to maritime surveillance.

Estimating remaining targets after some attempt has been made to detect an overall, unknown number of targets is critical to determining the potential threat associated with these remaining targets. This paper presents a Bayesian approach to calculate the distribution on the number of remaining targets given the sensor performance and the number of targets detected. For a single sensor, a closed form posterior distribution on remaining targets is derived. For multiple sensors, the corresponding posterior distribution is developed. A naive implementation of this calculation is shown to be computationally prohibitive, and an efficient means for performing the calculation is presented

This paper provides a brief description and performance results for the multistatic sonar trackers developed at NURC. Our analysis is based on common data distributed as part of the multistatic tracking working group (MSTWG), as well as sea trial data. We find that the nearest-neighbor tracker provides reasonable performance in benign environments, while the centralized and distributed MHT trackers have complementary strengths in more challenging scenarios