Deferred Passive Track Activation for Tracking Device Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current tracking devices face high latency and computational complexity when handling multiple targets due to the need to maintain both active and secondary tracks, leading to inefficient processing of measurements and increased computational resources.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a tracking device that distinguishes between active and passive tracks, deferring computations on passive tracks until specific criteria are met, such as available computational capacity or track probability, allowing for reduced algorithmic complexity and lower computational resource usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If both primary and secondary tracks are maintained actively, then track reliability is improved, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides tracks into two distinct segments: active tracks and passive tracks. Active tracks receive full computational processing including association with incoming measurements, while passive tracks are maintained with minimal processing. This segmentation allows the system to maintain multiple track hypotheses (improving reliability) while reducing the computational burden by not actively processing all tracks simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by selectively processing only a subset of tracks (active tracks) with full computational resources, while maintaining other tracks (passive tracks) with minimal processing. This allows the system to maintain multiple track hypotheses without performing exhaustive computations on all of them, thus reducing overall computational complexity while preserving track reliability through selective full processing.
2Measurement precision
If all tracks are processed simultaneously, then measurement precision is improved, but latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments track processing into two tiers: active tracks that receive immediate and precise association processing with incoming measurements, and passive tracks that are maintained without immediate processing. This segmentation enables the system to achieve high measurement precision for active tracks while avoiding the latency that would result from simultaneously processing all tracks with the same level of detail.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic action by allowing passive tracks to be activated and processed as active tracks at periodic intervals or when specific conditions are met. This approach ensures that tracks maintain precision over time through periodic full processing, while avoiding continuous simultaneous processing of all tracks that would increase latency.
3Productivity
If computational capacity is increased, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the system's processing allocation adaptive rather than static. The system dynamically adjusts which tracks are active and which are passive based on current computational capacity, track probabilities, and other criteria. This dynamic approach allows the system to maximize productivity when computational resources are available while maintaining lower complexity when resources are constrained, without requiring a permanently over-provisioned complex system.
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a tracking device configured to estimate a track for at least one possible target and configured to receive incoming measurements and to process measurements and tracks, which tracking device is configured with a storage and a computational device having a computational capacity and configured with an association module configured to calculate an association between a measurement and a track. The tracking device further comprises an output module configured to output a sequence of track updates from an assignment module maintaining a set of active tracks using the association module as a function of active tracks and the incoming measurements to calculate associations, containing possible track updates and deciding which track updates to keep in the set of active tracks and which track updates to add to a set of passive tracks. Computations on the set of passive tracks may be deferred until at least one passive track handling criterion is fulfilled; and the computational device may be configured to activate a passive track from the set of passive tracks and transfer the passive track from the set of passive tracks to the set of active tracks.