An adaptive algorithm for estimating the acceleration of highly maneuvering targets

A "current model" concept and modified Rayleigh distribution are proposed to describe the "current" probability distribution of target maneuvering accelaration. By noticing the relation between the state (accelaration) estimate and the mean-value of the state noise, a maneuvering acceleration mean-value and variance adaptive Kalman filtering algorithm is suggested. In three dimensional case, a nonlinear state model and a direct method of estimating tangential and normal accelerations of maneuvering targets are developed. Some computational results are presented.