Alpha-beta filters in polar coordinates with acceleration corrections

The use of polar coordinates is sometimes computationally advantageous for tracking, but complications arise because the position of constant velocity targets is no longer a linear function of time as it is for cartesian coordinates. However, this difficulty can be avoided by using pseudoacceleration correction factors which are added to the prediction equations to give approximately correct system dynamics, but at the expense of an increase in system noise. For alpha-beta tracking filters, these correction factors can be included with minimal degradation in the steady-state error performance of the filter while simultaneously providing substantial reductions in bias errors. >