Research On VTS Radar Echo Tracking Technology

With the rapid development of coastal and port ship surveillance,coastal security and ship traffic management have become particularly important.In order to better manage ships and improve traffic efficiency,Vessel Traffic Services(VTS)has been widely used in all important ports and waters.However,the key technologies used in the VTS system deployed in China are all from abroad,which is not only costly,but also poses a safety hazard if the maintenance is not timely,making the research and development of the localized VTS system a top priority for water transportation construction.Radar data processing is one of the core technologies of VTS,which must include tracking of radar echoes.The radar echo tracking refers to the integration of radar echoes into radar targets,the process of the measured values from the targets and updating them with correlating current and subsequent states.This paper focuses on the tracking technology based on Alpha-Beta filtering algorithm.Firstly,it introduces several coordinate systems commonly used in radar tracking systems,and summarizes the principle and flow of radar echo tracking model establishment and echo tracking technology.Under the premise of these backgrounds and technical support,a variety of echo tracking algorithms commonly used in engineering are introduced in detail.Combined with the VTS system and the actual motion law of the ship,these algorithms are compared,and the Alpha-Beta filtering algorithm is selected as the research basis.Secondly,aiming at the limitations of Alpha-Beta filtering algorithm in VTS system environment,the improvement of correlation and filtering is proposed,including calculation of tracking prediction gate,sector partitioning strategy for radar scanning surface,and the calculation and selection of key parameters in the algorithm and the acceleration gain of the target under maneuver conditions.Finally,based on the improved Alpha-Beta filtering algorithm,the radar tracking processing unit in the VTS system is prototyped.The practice verification shows that the radar echo tracking technology studied in this paper has fast correlation speed,high tracking precision and good tracking performance in VTS system.