Multiple target discrimination

Abstract

A target tracking system (10) comprises sensors (12) which provide data corresponding to a region of interest, the data being time dependent and consisting of amplitudes, ranges and angles. A window (202) is placed around data of interest, the size of the window being determined based on target size, assumed speed and acceleration characteristic, and the window is thereafter broken down into a plurality of smaller windows (208), thereby forming a grid having a nodal point (210) at each corner of the smaller windows. The data within the window is stored in a matrix, and background noise is thereafter minimized by filtering the data past a threshold value (215). The filtered data is analyzed to determine its distance weighted contribution at each nodal point (219), and the weighted distances are summed for each nodal point resulting in a nodal point magnitude for each of the nodal points (220). A nodal point having the maximum magnitude is selected (221) and its magnitude is compared to a target threshold value (227). A first target is determined to be present if the nodal point magnitude is greater than the target threshold value. The weighted contribution of the nodal data corresponding to the first target is removed from the nodal point magnitude for each of the nodal points (230-237), and thereafter, the procedure is repeated until all targets have been identified and deleted (221-237).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.