Performance Limits of Track-to-Track Fusion vs. Centralized Estimation: Theory and Application

Track-to-track fusion is an important part in distributed multisensor-multitarget tracking. The centralized and distributed tracking configurations were studied in [6] using simulated air-to-air scenarios, and in [5] with analytical results based on α-β filters. The current work generalizes the results in [5] to the cases with more than 2 sensors. As the number of sensors increases, the performance of the distributed tracker is shown to degrade compared to the centralized estimation even when the optimal track-to-track fusion is used. An approximation technique for track-to-track fusion is also compared with the optimal approach with performance curves for various numbers of sensors. These performance curves can be used in designing a fusion system where certain trade-offs need to be considered.