A small UAV tracking algorithm based on AIMM-UKF

Purpose The purpose of this study is to establish an effective tracking algorithm for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) based on interacting multiple model (IMM) to take timely countermeasures against illegal flying UAVs. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, based on the constant velocity model (CV), the maneuvering adaptive current statistical model (CS) and the angular velocity adaptive three-dimensional (3D) fixed center constant speed rate constant steering rate model, a small UAV tracking algorithm based on adaptive interacting multiple model (AIMM-UKF) is proposed. In addition, an adaptive robust filter is added to each model of the algorithm. The linear Kalman filter algorithm is attached to the CV model and the CS model and the unscented Kalman filter algorithm (UKF) is attached to the CSCDR model to solve the nonlinearity of the 3D turning model. Findings Monte-Carlo simulation comparison with the other two IMM tracking algorithms shows that in the case of different movement modes and maneuvering strength of the UAV, the AIMM-UKF algorithm makes a good trade-off between the amount of calculation and filtering accuracy, which can maintain more accurate and stable tracking and has strong robustness. At the same time, after testing the actual observation data of the UAV, the results show that the AIMM-UKF algorithm state estimation trajectory can be regarded as an actual trajectory in practical engineering applications, which has good practical value. Originality/value This paper presents a new small UAV tracking algorithm based on IMM and the advantages and practicability of this algorithm compared with existing algorithms are proved through experiments.