Single versus tandem radar sensor target tracking in the adaptive cruise control environment

The multiple target tracking performance of a multiple model technique is investigated. The performance when using a single radar sensor is compared to that when a tandem radar set is employed and the technique implemented is a combination of the interactive multiple model algorithm and the probabilistic data association filter. The investigation shows that the inclusion of a second redundant radar sensor significantly improves the tracking performance of the multiple model technique with only a slight increase in the computation cost. The ability to initiate, maintain, and terminate the tracks of multiple targets in a cluttered adaptive cruise control environment is improved a) by reducing the chances of wrongfully terminating tracks when targets are not "picked up" during a small number of consecutive radar scans and b) by reducing the state estimate covariances. A method for showing this latter improvement involves calculating the spectrum of the relative covariance matrix. These benefits of the redundant sensor counter those of a complementary sensor where a greater field of view is afforded.