Tracking and Kalman Filtering Made Easy

A unique, easy-to-use guide to radar tracking and Kalmanfiltering



This book presents the first truly accessible treatment of radartracking; Kalman, Swerling, and Bayes filters for linear andnonlinear ballistic and satellite tracking systems; and thevoltage-processing methods (Givens, Householder, and Gram-Schmidt)for least-squares filtering to correct for computer round-offerrors. Tracking and Kalman Filtering Made Easy emphasizes thephysical and geometric aspects of radar filters as well as thebeauty and simplicity of their mathematics. An abundance of designequations, procedures, and curves allows readers to design trackingfilters quickly and test their performance using only a pocketcalculator!



The text incorporates problems and solutions, figures andphotographs, and astonishingly simple derivations for variousfilters. It tackles problems involving clutter returns, redundanttarget detections, inconsistent data, track-start and track-droprules, data association, matched filtering, tracking with chirpwaveform, and more. The book also covers useful techniques such asthe moving target detector (MTD) clutter rejection technique. Allexplanations are given in clear and simple terms, including:

* The voltage-processing approach to least-squares filtering

* The correlation between such procedures as discrete orthogonalLegendre polynomial (DOLP) and voltage processing

* The mathematical sameness of tracking and estimation problems onthe one hand, and sidelobe canceling and adaptive array processingon the other

* The massively parallel systolic array sidelobe canceler processor

* Important computational accuracy issues

* An appended comparison between the Kalman and the Swerlingfilters, written by Dr. Peter Swerling



Tracking and Kalman Filtering Made Easy is invaluable forengineers, scientists, and mathematicians involved in trackingfilter design. Its straightforward approach makes it an excellenttextbook for senior-undergraduate and first-year graduate courses.