TOA Estimation and Data Association for Through-Wall Tracking of Moving Targets

Through-wall tracking of moving targets is of great interest for rescue, surveillance, and security operations. For its realization, the handheld ultrawideband radars with small antenna array provide a practical solution. The radar signal processing, which is hidden behind the estimation of the final target tracks, represents a complex process with several processing phases. In this paper, all phases for through wall tracking are outlined whereas the attention is devoted to the estimation of the correct input data for the localization phase. This is done by applying a new approach that combines the time of arrival (TOA) estimation and the data-association into a single step. The properties of the proposed algorithm are illustrated by processing of real radar signals. Here, the obtained results confirm that the proposed algorithm has provided good, stable, and robust TOA estimation including deghosting task solution.