Skip to main content
Log in

Performance analysis of two EM-based measurement bias estimation processes for tracking systems

  • Published:
Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In target tracking, the measurements collected by sensors can be biased in some real scenarios, e.g., due to systematic error. To accurately estimate the target trajectory, it is essential that the measurement bias be identified in the first place. We investigate the iterative bias estimation process based on the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm, for cases where sufficiently large numbers of measurements are at hand. With the assistance of extended Kalman filtering and smoothing, we derive two EM estimation processes to estimate the measurement bias which is formulated as a random variable in one state-space model and a constant value in another. More importantly, we theoretically derive the global convergence result of the EM-based measurement bias estimation and reveal the link between the two proposed EM estimation processes in the respective state-space models. It is found that the bias estimate in the second state-space model is more accurate and of less complexity. Furthermore, the EM-based iterative estimation converges faster in the second state-space model than in the first one. As a byproduct, the target trajectory can be simultaneously estimated with the measurement bias, after processing a batch of measurements. These results are confirmed by our simulations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhi-hua Lu.

Additional information

Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61601254) and the KC Wong Magna Fund of Ningbo University, China

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lu, Zh., Zhu, My., Ye, Qw. et al. Performance analysis of two EM-based measurement bias estimation processes for tracking systems. Frontiers Inf Technol Electronic Eng 19, 1151–1165 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1800214

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1800214

Key words

CLC number

Navigation