Radar Target Tracking—Viterbi versus IMM

The performances of the Viterbi and the interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithms, applied to radar tracking and detection, are investigated and compared. Two different cases are considered. In the first case, target acceleration is identical to one of the system models while in the second case it is not. The algorithms performance depends monotonically on the maximal magnitude of the difference between models acceleration, on the time interval between measurements and on the reciprocal of the measurements 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.