PDAF versus PMHT performance on OTHR data

Over the Horizon Radar (OTHR) is the primary Australian wide area surveillance sensor. The radar tracking system currently used for OTHR is based on the Probabilistic Data Association Filter (PDAF). Research and development(R&D)has continued to improve tracking performance. R&D has been extended to include the Probabilistic Multiple Hypothesis Tracker (PMHT). This paper deals with the comparison of the PDAF and the PMHT for tracking targets in experimentally recorded OTHR data. The data has been selected over a range of conditions and every effort has been made to ensure that both trackers have been optimised. The comparison uses a Tracker Assessment Tool (TAT) which measures performance against a total of 15 metrics. This report presents a quantitative performance comparison of the current tracking algorithm and these new tracker developments.