The current trend to develop low cost, miniature unattended ground sensors will enable a cost-effective, covert means for surveillance in both urban and remote border areas. Whereas the functionality (e.g., sensing range and life in the field) of these smaller UGS (i.e., acoustic, seismic, magnetic, chemical or biological) may be limited due to size and cost constraints, a network of these sensors working cooperatively together can provide an effective surveillance capability. A key factor is the ability of these sensors to work cooperatively to achieve a `collective' functionality that can meet the surveillance objective. This paper describes results of using target identification (ID) features (i.e., the ID feature space of the target) to improve the tracking of closely spaced targets (i.e., the kinematic space of the targets). A Multiple Level Identification (MLID) approach was used to determine and maintain confidences for multiple target identifications for each target. These confidences were incorporated into the processing of kinematic data (i.e., target bearing reports) to improve the tracker's estimated position of the target's location. Results describing the effectiveness of using MLID on target tracking performance are reported using simulated target trajectory and ID data.
The current trend to develop low cost, miniature unattended ground sensor (UGS) will enable a cost-effective, covert means for surveillance in both urban and remote border areas. Whereas the functionality (e.g., sensing range and life in the field) of these individual UGS (i.e., acoustic, seismic, magnetic, chemical or biological) are limited due to size and cost constraints, a network of these sensors working cooperatively together can provide an effective surveillance capability. A key factor is the ability of these sensors to work cooperatively to achieve a `collective' functionality that can meet the surveillance objective. For example, a realistic mission objective would be to use the minimum number of sensors necessary (i.e., preserve the life of the network) to detect, identify and track vehicles in a desert canyon area that has variable wind and temperature conditions. The network would have to assess the effect of the wind direction and temperature on the sensing range of its acoustic sensors, turn on those sensors that can initially detect the target and dynamically activate other appropriate sensors (e.g., seismic, acoustic or imaging sensors) that can identify and track the vehicle as it moves into and across the canyon area covered by the sensor network. To achieve this type of functionality requires system algorithms that are capable of optimizing the utilization of the sensors. This paper describes results that show improved target tracking accuracy by optimizing the selection of acoustic sensors that measure bearing angles to the target. Also, recent results are described from testing the tracking algorithm with real data.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.