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Virginia Tech

Advances in the Use of Finite-Set Statistics for Multitarget Tracking

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

In this dissertation, we seek to improve and advance the use of the finite-set statistics (FISST) approach to multitarget tracking. We consider a subsea multitarget tracking application that poses several challenges due to factors, such as, clutter/environmental noise, joint target and sensor state dependent measurement uncertainty, target-measurement association ambiguity, and sub-optimal sensor placement. The specific application that we consider is that of an underwater mobile sensor that measures the relative angle (i.e., bearing angle) to sources of acoustic noise in order to track one or more ships (targets) in a noisy environment. However, our contributions are generalizable for a variety of multitarget tracking applications. We build upon existing algorithms and address the problem of improving tracking performance for multiple maneuvering targets by incorporation several target motion models into a FISST tracking algorithm known as the probability hypothesis density filter. Moreover, we develop a novel method for associating measurements to targets using the Bayes factor, which improves tracking performance for FISST methods as well as other approaches to multitarget tracking. Further, we derive a novel formulation of Bayes risk for use with set-valued random variables and develop a real-time planner for sensor motion that avoids local minima that arise in myopic approaches to sensor motion planning. The effectiveness of our contributions are evaluated through a mixture of real-world and simulated data.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Electrical Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Electrical Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2021

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Jimenez, Jorge Gabriel
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Stilwell, Daniel J.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Leman, Scotland C.
  • De La Ree, Jaime
  • Williams, Ryan K.
  • Baumann, William T.

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:32885
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/106393

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Jimenez, Jorge Gabriel. Advances in the Use of Finite-Set Statistics for Multitarget Tracking. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/106393