Underwater Acoustic Multi-target Tracking : Theory and Application

This book highlights the principles and technology to solve the challenges of multi-target tracking in underwater target detection, with sonar equipment research as the background. While underwater acoustic target detection primarily determines the presence or absence of targets, it fails to provide the information about batches. Multi-target tracking, on the other hand, focuses on addressing issues including dividing target batches, obtaining target start and end times, obtaining information about target quantity, as well as filtering out false targets and smoothing trajectories. For sonar equipment, especially that on unmanned platforms, multi-target tracking is of utmost significance.

However, due to a host of uncertainties, multi-target tracking proves extremely challenging in practical sonar applications. These uncertainties include: 1 Target motion often comes with random interference, causing sensors to occasionally miss targets; 2 The number of targets in the observation area fluctuates randomly; 3 Sensor observations are subject to random noise interference; 4 The quantity of sensor observations varies over time in an unpredictable manner; 5 Targets may be too close for sensors to distinguish; and 6 Sometimes, even when there are no targets in the observation area, sensors still generate observation data.

To tackle these issues, this book systematically elucidates the fundamental principles of multi-target tracking algorithms and introduces a variety of such algorithms. Ultimately, although the book centers on multi-target tracking, the operation of a single sonar or multiple sonar devices aims to solve the problem of locating passive targets. This, in turn, enables the calculation of target position, heading, and speed, as well as the estimation of the target's operational status.

The book is a comprehensive and in-depth reference for researchers and engineers engaged in the research and development of sonar equipment as well as graduate students in underwater acoustics.

Bin QI is currently a professor at Harbin Engineering University, China. He has received the honorary title of the National Young Talent from the Chinese Association of Science and Technology. He received his PhD from the same university in 2012, and in 2010~2011 he received a one-year joint training at Texas A&M University, the USA. After graduation he did postdoctoral research for two years at Toyota Technological Institute, Japan. He has presided over and participated in more than 10 national research projects, including those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (both general projects and youth projects) and a National Key R&D Program. He has won two second prizes of Heilongjiang Provincial Science and Technology Awards.

Lu WANG is currently an associate professor at Harbin Engineering University, China. He has received the honorary titles of the National Young Talent from the Chinese Association of Science and Technology, and the High-level Talent of Heilongjiang Province. He received his PhD from Keio University, Japan in 2019. He has presided over and participated in more than ten national research projects, including Japanese national projects, projects funded by Chinese National Youth Talent Program, projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Youth Fund), and an A3 Foresight Program of China-Japan-Korea. He has won the Excellent Research Award from the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers of Japan and the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems and Information Technology (IoTCIT).

Jin FU is currently a professor at Beihang University, China. He has received the honorary title of the National Young Talent from the Chinese Association of Science and Technology. He was admitted to the School of Underwater Acoustic Engineering at Harbin Engineering University in 1999 and successively obtained bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. He has presided over and participated in more than 10 national and provincial/ministerial-level projects, including those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program, and the National Basic Research Program. He has won one first prize and two second prizes of the National Defense Science and Technology Awards, and two second prizes of Heilongjiang Provincial Science and Technology Awards. He has also received the Heilongjiang Provincial Youth Science and Technology Award, the title of Young Academic Backbone Scholar in Provincial Universities, and the title of Top Ten Outstanding Young Experts in Heilongjiang Province.