Intuitionistic fuzzy joint probabilistic data association filter and its application to multitarget tracking

• A fuzzy clustering is proposed based on intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) point operator.
• The joint association probabilities are reconstructed by utilizing IF membership.
• A new intuitionistic index of intuitionistic fuzzy set is defined.
• This paper proposes two different methods (IF-JPDAF1 and IF-JPDAF2).

This paper proposes a new intuitionistic fuzzy joint probabilistic data association filter for multitarget tracking in a cluttered environment. In the proposed algorithm, the joint association probabilities in JPDAF are reconstructed by utilizing intuitionistic fuzzy membership degrees of the measurements belonging to the targets. To compute the intuitionistic fuzzy membership degree, a new intuitionistic fuzzy clustering method is proposed based on intuitionistic fuzzy point operator, which can extract useful information from uncertainty information of measurement. At the same time, two new weight assignments are introduced to deal with the uncertainty of measurement, which lead to two different data association methods, IF-JPDAF1 and IF-JPDAF2. Moreover, according to the characteristic of multitarget tracking, a new intuitionistic index of intuitionistic fuzzy set is defined. Finally, experiment results show the proposed algorithms have advantages over the conventional methods (including the JPDAF, Fitzgerald's JPDAF and MEF-JPDAF) in terms of efficiency and robustness.