MP-IPDA * for Target Motion Analysis

Passive acoustics signals generated by a target used for oceanic environment analysis cause a lot of problems due to multiple paths and Doppler effects. Multiple detections caused by multiple paths need to be identified to avoid a mismatch between the true paths and the path models for target tracking. In this paper, the multi-path integrated probabilistic data association (MP-IPDA) algorithm which was applied to multi-path (MP) tracking for Over-The-Horizon Radar is modified for target motion analysis (TMA) in a shallow oceanic environment where the speed of sound is almost constant. The MP-IPDA algorithm is further modified to an alternative algorithm called MP-IPDA * to reduce computational burden for enhancing efficiency. The MP-IPDA * algorithm is more effective as the number of multiple paths increases. A simulation study shows that the MP-IPDA * algorithm in quite effective for TMA even in the environment with very low target detection probability.