Multifilters for radar tracking of a maneuvering target--Viterbi vs. IMM

The performances fo the Viterbi and the interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithms applied to radar tracking and detection are investigated and compared. In the first case considered, target acceleration is identical to one of the system models, while in the second case it is not. The algorithm performance depends monotonically on the maximal magnitude of the difference between the model acceleration, on the time interval between measurements, and on the reciprocal of the measurement error standard deviation. In general, when these parameters are relatively large, both algorithms perform well. When they are relatively small, the Viterbi algorithm is better. However, during delay periods, namely right after the start of a maneuver, the IMM algorithm provides better estimations.