Track Maintenance
scan n-2
scan n-1
scan n
track established and stapled
plot detection lost
track lost
Figure 1: Process of track maintenance
scan n-2
scan n-1
scan n
track established and stapled
plot detection lost
track lost
Figure 1: Process of track maintenance
scan n-2
scan n-1
scan n
track established and stapled
plot detection lost
track lost
Figure 1: Process of track maintenance
Track Maintenance
Track maintenance is the process in which a decision is made about whether to end the life of a track. If a track was not associated with a plot during the plot to track association phase, then there is a chance that the target may no longer exist (for instance, an aircraft may have landed or flown out of radar cover).
Alternatively, however, there is a chance that the radar may have just failed to see the target at that update, but will find it again on the next update. Common approaches to deciding on whether to terminate a track include:
- If the target was not seen for the past M consecutive update opportunities (typically M=3 or so)
- If the target was not seen for the past M out of N most recent update opportunities
- If the target’s track uncertainty (covariance matrix) has grown beyond a certain threshold.