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Abstract

To address the nonlinear state estimation problem, the generalized conversion filter (GCF) is proposed using a general conversion of the measurement under minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. However, the performance of the GCF significantly deteriorates in the presence of complex non-Gaussian noise as the symmetry of the MMSE is compromised, leading to performance degradation. To address this issue, this paper proposes a new GCF, named generalized loss-based GCF (GLGCF) by utilizing the generalized loss (GL) as the loss function instead of the MMSE criterion. In contrast to other robust loss functions, the GL adjusts the shape of the function through the shape parameter, allowing it to adapt to various complex noise environments. Meanwhile, a linear regression model is developed to obtain residual vectors, and the negative log-likelihood of GL is introduced to avoid the problem of manually selecting the shape parameter. The proposed GLGCF not only retains the advantage of GCF in handling strong measurement nonlinearity, but also exhibits robust performance against non-Gaussian noises. Finally, simulations on the target-tracking problem validate the strong robustness and high filtering accuracy of the proposed nonlinear state estimation algorithm in the presence of non-Gaussian noise.

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1. Introduction

State estimation is a key problem in engineering and scientific fields, involving the estimation of a system’s internal state from noisy measurements [1,2]. The Kalman filter (KF) is known as the optimal linear estimation method, providing an optimal recursive solution for linear systems under Gaussian noises [3]. However, in real-world applications, nonlinear dynamics and non-Gaussian noises are common. Under such conditions, the standard KF may fail to maintain its optimality in minimizing the mean squared error (MSE) of the estimated state. Thus, it is crucial to expand KF to efficiently deal with state estimation problem of nonlinear systems in the presence of non-Gaussian noise.

For addressing nonlinear filtering problems, obtaining an exact or analytical solution is often impractical. Many approaches have been explored to address this problem, including extended Kalman filter (EKF) [4], unscented Kalman filter (UKF) [5], cubature Kalman filter (CKF) [6], and Gauss–Hermite Kalman filter (GHKF) [7]. EKF utilizes the first-order Taylor series expansion to linearize system equations. However, EKF suffers from poor approximation accuracy due to linearization errors, and if the system exhibits high nonlinearity, EKF may even diverge [8]. To address this issue, UKF, CKF, and GHKF have been proposed, which approximate the state conditional probability distribution using deterministic sampling (DS). Although UKF avoids the linearization step, offering more accurate estimates for nonlinear systems, it demands more computational resources and careful adjustment of parameters. Moreover, in high-dimensional nonlinear systems, UKF may encounter negative weights, leading to filter instability and potential divergence. While the CKF addresses the numerical instability issue in the UKF, it introduces the problem of nonlocal sampling. GHKF may encounter the curse of dimensionality in high-dimensional systems problems, resulting in significant computational burdens. Based on the Monte Carlo method, particle filter (PF) uses random sampling of particles to represent probability density [9]. Since PF does not assume prior or posterior probability density, it requires considerable computational demands to attain accurate state estimation. Thus, depending on the system and specific requirements, it is important to balance accuracy and computational demands to select the suitable filter.

Generally, the standard KF and its variants are based on the framework of linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) estimation [10]. LMMSE estimation focuses on finding the optimal linear estimator in the original measurement space. When the measurement and the state are related to a lower degree of nonlinearity, the LMMSE estimation is expected to yield more accurate results [10]. Furthermore, by considering a wider or optimized set of measurements that are uncorrelated with the original ones but still contain relevant information about the system state, LMMSE estimation can achieve better estimation accuracy. The uncorrelated conversion-based filter (UCF) improves the LMMSE estimator in a similar manner, by incorporating new measurements through nonlinear transformations [11]. Moreover, the optimized conversion-sample filter (OCF) simplifies the optimization of the nonlinear transformation function and limits the errors introduced by the DS [12]. In contrast to the UCF and OCF, the generalized conversion filter (GCF) optimizes both the conversion’s dimension and its sample points, providing a generalized transformation of measurements using DS [13].

While the GCF designed based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion is effectively to handle Gaussian noise, it is highly sensitive to non-Gaussian noise [14]. It is noteworthy that the measurement noise often follows a non-Gaussian distribution and may contain outliers in many practical scenarios. Recently, numerous advancements have been made in enhancing filter performance when dealing with non-Gaussian noise. One such approach involves augmenting the system model with quadratic or polynomial functions to improve estimation accuracy in the presence of non-Gaussian noise [15,16]. The Student’s t filter is another technique, using Student’s t distribution to model measurement noise [17]. Moreover, information-theoretic learning (ITL) has been utilized to combat non-Gaussian noises in signal processing [18]. For instance, maximum correntropy Kalman filter [19], maximum correntropy GCF (MCGCF) [20], and minimum error entropy Kalman filter [21] have been proposed. Unlike the previously discussed techniques, the generalized loss (GL) [22] provides flexibility in adjusting the shape of the loss function. It integrates various loss functions, such as the squared loss, Charbonnier loss [23], Cauchy loss [24], Geman–McClure loss [25] and Welsch loss [26]. Therefore, by acting as a robust loss function that does not rely on the symmetry of Gaussian distributions, GL improves both filtering accuracy and robustness, effectively capturing higher-order statistical characteristics and mitigating the impact of symmetry disruption in non-Gaussian environments. Until now, several GL-based algorithms have been proposed to tackle different estimation problems. A variational Bayesian-based generalized loss cubature Kalman filter is proposed to handle unknown measurement noise and the presence of potential outliers simultaneously [27]. The iterative unscented Kalman filter with general robust loss function [28] and geometric unscented Kalman filter with GL function [29] are utilized to enhance state estimation in power systems, alleviating the impact of non-Gaussian noise.

In this paper, a new nonlinear filter named generalized loss-based generalized conversion filter (GLGCF) is proposed, which employs the GL to reformulate the measurement update process of GCF. By leveraging the GCF’s ability to utilize higher-order information from transformed measurements and the GL’s robustness in dealing with various types of noise, the GLGCF outperforms both the GCF and MCGCF in non-Gaussian noise environments. The main contributions of this paper are summarized as follows:

  • To combat non-Gaussian noises, the GLGCF employs a robust nonlinear regression based on GL, and the posterior estimate and its covariance matrix are updated using a fixed-point iteration.

  • To solve the problem of manually setting the shape parameter in the GL function, the residual error is integrated into negative log-likelihood (NLL) of GL, and the optimal shape parameter is determined through minimizing the NLL.

  • Simulations on the target-tracking models in non-Gaussian noise environments demonstrate the superiority of the GLGCF. Additionally, its recursive structure makes it suitable for online implementation.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the GL and GCF. Section 3 derives the proposed GLGCF algorithm. Section 4 demonstrates the effectiveness of the GLGCF by target-tracking simulations. Section 5 concludes this paper.

2. Preliminaries

2.1. Generalized Loss

The following GL function is proposed by [22]

(1)λ(x,μ,c)=|μ2|μ(x/c)2|μ2|+1μ/21,

where μ represents the shape parameter, and c>0 denotes the scale parameter. By adjusting the value of μ in Equation (1), λ can be extended to apply to a range of loss functions, e.g., squared loss (μ=2), Charbonnier loss [23] (μ=1), Cauchy loss [24] (μ=0), Geman–McClure loss [25] (μ=2), and Welsch loss [26] (μ=).

Let X and Y be two arbitrary scalar random variables, and GL can be defined as follows:

(2)VGL(X,Y)=|μ2|μG(e)+1μ/21dFXY(x,y),

where FXY(x,y) represents the joint distribution of X and Y, and G(e)=(e/c)2/|μ2| with e=xy. Given the constraint of limited data, FXY(x,y) is commonly unknown. Thus, Equation (2) is calculated by

(3)V^GL(X,Y)=1Mi=1M|μ2|μG(e(i))+1μ/21,

where e(i)=x(i)y(i) and {x(i),y(i)}i=1M are M samples sampled from FXY(x,y). Since Equation (3) incorporates G(e), GL provides information regarding higher-order moments. This feature offers greater resilience to outliers and noise, making it particularly effective in situations where the data are subjected to non-Gaussian noise or outliers.

2.2. Generalized Conversion Filter

By applying a DS technique, GCF effectively transforms the sample points, resulting in accurate estimations for nonlinear systems influenced by Gaussian noise. Consider a discrete-time nonlinear system as follows:

(4)xk=fxk1+wk1,

(5)zk=hxk+vk,

where xkRn represents the system state; zkRm stands for the measurement vector; the functions f (·) and h (·) signify the process model and measurement model, respectively; wkRn and vkRm denote the process noise and measurement noise, respectively. Generally, for the nonlinear dynamic system described by Equations (4) and (5), the GCF includes three steps, namely prediction, constraint generation and update [13].

2.2.1. Prediction

The prior state and its covariance matrix can be calculated by generating sample points with DS methods, such as the unscented transformation [5], Gauss–Hermite quadrature (GHQ) [7], and cubature rules [6]. First, we define a combined state vector ψk1 as follows:

(6)ψk1xk1T,wk1TT,

and the estimate ψ^k1 of ψk1, MSE of ψ^k1 given the measurements Zk1, denoted by Pk1ψ, is expressed as

(7)ψ^k1=x^k|k1w¯k1,Pk1ψ=Pk100Qk1w,

where Qk1w is the covariance matrix of wk1, and Ewk1=w¯k1. Using the previous estimate ψ^k1 and covariance matrix Pk1ψ, we generate a weight vector Wψ=w1ψ,w2ψ,,wnsψT and a sample set ψk1ll=1nψ of ψk1 by a DS method with nψ being the number of sampling points. The sample ψk1l consists of the state sample xk1lT and the white process noise sample wk1lT.

The transformed samples set can be obtained using the process model as

(8)xk|k1l*=fxk1l,wk1l,l=0,,nψ.

Thus, the predicted state and its covariance matrix are computed by

(9)x^kk1=lwlψxk|k1l*,

(10)Pkk1=lwlψxk|k1l*x^kk1xk|k1l*x^kk1T.

2.2.2. Constraint Generation

With respect to the measurement function Equation (5), the combined state vector ξk is defined as

(11)ξkxkT,vkTT,

and the estimate ξ^k1 of ξk1, MSE of ξ^k1 given the measurements Zk1, represented by Pk1ξ, can be written as

(12)ξ^k=x^kk1v¯k,

(13)Pkξ=Pkk100Rkv,

where x^kk1 is the predicted state, Evk=v¯k, and Rkv is the covariance matrix of vk.

Similar to the previous prediction step, based on ξ^k and Pkξ, we can generate a weight vector W=w1,,wnξT and a sample set ξkss=1nξ of ξk by a DS method with nξ being the number of sampling points. The sample ξks consists of the state sample xksT and the white measurement noise sample vksT.

The transformed samples set can be derived using the measurement model

(14)zks=hxks,vks,s=0,,nξ.

Thus, the samples of xk and zk can be obtained as follows:

(15)Xkxk1,,xknξ,Zkzk1,,zknξ.

Following the similar approach to that in Table I in [13], where Zia is substituted by Zi,ka=ei,nzZk,zk, the constraint matrices Ci,k(n) can be derived for all i=1,,nz. By applying the constraint matrices Ci,k(n), the higher-order terms of the transformed samples can be neglected, which effectively restricts the higher-order errors and achieves the optimal transformation.

2.2.3. Update

To obtain the optimal sample points, we apply the QR decomposition to the constraint matrices Ci,k(n) for all i=1,,nz.

(16)Q0,ik,Qi,kR0,ik0=qrCi,kT,

(17)QkQ1,k,,Qnz,kT,

where Ci,k is Ci,k(n) without its last column.

Finally, the estimated state x^k and its covariance matrix Pk can be obtained by

(18)x^k=x^kk1KkW,

(19)Pk=Pkk1KkMx,kT,

(20)KkMx,kQkTQkMyQkT1Qk,

where

(21)Mx,k=Xkx^kk111×nξdiag(W),

(22)My=swses,nξWes,nξWT.

3. Generalized Loss-Based Generalized Conversion Filter

Since the MMSE depends only on the second-order statistics of the errors, the performance of the GCF deteriorates in non-Gaussian noise [30]. To improve the robustness of the GCF, we propose integrating the GL cost function into the GCF framework, resulting in a new variant of the GCF, namely GLGCF. This variant is expected to perform better in non-Gaussian noise environments, as the GL incorporates second- and higher-order moments of the errors.

To combine the GL with the GCF, we first define a linear model that combines the state estimate and the measurement as follows:

(23)x^kk1zk=xkhx^k+ϵk,

where ϵk=xkx^kk1vk and the covariance matrix of ϵk can be obtained by

(24)EϵkϵkT=Pkk100Rkv=Up,kk1Up,kk1T00Ur,kUr,kT,

with Uk=Up,kk100Ur,k. Multiplying both sides of Equation (23) by Uk1 yields

(25)Γk=dxk+ϕk,

where Γk=Uk1x^kzk,dxk=Uk1xkhx^k, and ϕk=Uk1ϵk.

The GL-based cost function is defined as

(26)J^GLxk=1Li=1L|μ2|μGϕi,k+1μ/21,

where ϕi,k=Γi,kdixk is the ith element of ϕk, and Γi,k is the ith element of Γk, dixk is the ith row of dxk.

Next, the optimal estimate of xk can be obtained by

(27)x^k=argminxkJ^GLxk=argminxk1Li=1L|μ2|μGϕi,k+1μ/21.

The solution to Equation (27) can be obtained by solving the following equation:

(28)J^GLxkxk=i=1LGϕi,k+1(μ/2)1ϕi,kϕi,kxi,k=0.

Equation (28) can be further expressed in matrix form as

(29)dxkxkTΘkΓkdxk=0,

where

(30)Θk=Θkx00Θky

with

(31)Θkx=diagκϕ1,k,,κϕn,k,

(32)Θky=diagκϕn+1,k,,κϕn+m,k,

and

(33)κϕi,k=Gϕi,k+1(μ/2)1.

According to [19], updated Equation (25) can be applied with one iteration to yield similar results within the GCF framework by employing Θk to modify the measurement data. As noted in [31], two methods can be used to achieve this: the first method modifies the residual error covariance using ϕi,k=Γi,kdi(xk), and the second method reconstructs the ‘pseudo-observation’. Although both methods are equivalent in their final outcome. For simplicity, this paper presents the algorithm based on the first approach.

Let Λk denote the modified covariance, which can be expressed as

(34)Λk=UkΘk1UkT.

In the following analysis, we express Λk in two parts such that

(35)Λk=Λkx00Λky.

Given that the actual state x(k) is unknown, we set x^k|k1xk=0. Under this condition, it is straightforward to observe that

(36)Pk|k1=Up(k|k1)·I·UpT(k|k1)=Λkx.

The modified measurement noise covariance matrix can be obtained as

(37)R¯kv=Λky.

The GL-based cost function characterizes the error properties by weighting on the measurement uncertainty, which is reflected in the modified measurement noise covariance matrix R¯kv. This procedure allows for a more accurate representation of the error dynamics by incorporating the uncertainty in the measurements, thus refining the covariance matrix to accurately capture the true noise characteristics.

Next, we replace Rkv in Equation (13) with R¯kv to obtain

(38)P¯kξ=Pkk10vv0R¯kv.

Based on ξ^k and P¯kξ, we can generate a weight vector W¯=w1,,wnξT and a sample set ξkss=1nξ of ξk by a DS method. Thus, the samples of xk and zk can be obtained as Equation (15).

By employing the approach from Table I in [13], where Zia is substituted by Zi,ka=ei,nzZk,zk, we obtain the constraint matrix Ci,k(n) for i=1,,nz. Subsequently, Qk is calculated by Ci,k(n) for i=1,,nz, as shown in Equations (16) and (17).

Thus, the filter estimated state x^k and its covariance matrix Pk can be computed by

(39)x^k=x^kk1KkW¯,

(40)P¯k=Pkk1K¯kM¯x,kT,

(41)K¯kM¯x,kQkTQk,M¯yQkT1Qk,

where

(42)M¯x,k=Xkx^kk111×nξdiag(W¯),

(43)M¯y=swses,nξW¯es,nξW¯T.

   Algorithm 1: GLGCF
  • Step 1: Set the initial state estimate x^0|0 and the error covariance matrix P0|0,

  • choose a proper truncation limit value t and a minimum shape parameter μmin < 2.

  • Step 2: Compute the predicted sampling points xk|k1l*; use x^kk1=lwlψxk|k1l* and

  • Pkk1=lwlψxk|k1l*x^kk1xk|k1l*x^kk1T to calculate x^kk1 and Pkk1; adopt

  • Cholesky decomposition to obtain Uk.

  • Step 3: Utilize zks=hxkl,vkl,l=0,,nξ, to compute the propagated sampling points

  • zks; calculate the residual error ϕk=Γkdxk. Employ Equation (45) and residual error

  • samples ϕi,k(j)i=1L to obtain μ*; use Equations (34) and (37) to derive R¯kv.

  • Step 4: Obtain the samples of xk and zk as Equation (15). Compute the constraint matrix

  • Ci,k(n) using Table I in [13] with Zia substituted by Zi,ka=ei,nzZk,zk.

  • Step 5: Compute Qk using Equations (16) and (17). Update the state estimate x^k and the

  • error covariance matrix Pk by the following equations:

    x^k=x^kk1KkW¯,

  • P¯k=Pkk1K¯kM¯x,kT,

  • K¯kM¯x,kQkTQk,M¯yQkT1Qk,

  • where Mx,k=Xkx^kk111×nξdiag(W) and My=swses,nξWes,nξWT.

The shape of the GL function is determined by the parameter μ, with its value influencing the level of outlier suppression. Given that μ directly affects filtering performance, finding the optimal μ is essential. To address this issue, we formulate the negative log-likelihood (NLL) of GL’s probability distribution function as follows:

(44)ΞNLL(x,c,σ)=logP(x,μ,c) =Ξ(x,μ,c)+logcT(μ),

where P(x,μ,c)=1cT(μ)exp(Ξ(x,μ,c));T(μ)=ttexp(Ξ(x,μ,1))dx is an approximate integral, with t representing the truncation limit [32]. Subsequently, we find the optimal μ by minimizing the NLL of the residual error ϕk as follows:

(45)μ*=argminμi=1L|μ2|μGϕi,k+1μ/21+logcttexp|μ2|μG(ϕi,k)+1μ/21dx.

Since obtaining an analytical solution for the partition function in Equation (45) is not feasible and μ is a scalar, a 1-D grid search within μμmin,2 can be used to minimize Equation (45). The choice of μmin < 2 ensures the stability of the loss function and reduces computational complexity. When the system is affected by measurement outliers, the symmetric loss function MMSE becomes sensitive to symmetry disruption, resulting in biased state estimation. By optimizing the shape parameter, the GL adapts more effectively to the characteristic of non-Gaussian noise, thereby enhancing the robustness of the GCF in complex noise environments.

Finally, the proposed GLGCF algorithm is summarized in Algorithm 1.

Computational Complexity

The computational complexity of the proposed GLGCF is presented. Note that n and m are dimensions of xk and zk, respectively. Nint represents the number of integration subintervals. nξ represents the number of sampling points, which is determined by the selected DS method. In this paper, we utilize the GHQ rule as the DS method. Ch denotes the computational complexity of h(·) for calculation with the sampling points.

As we can see from Table 1, different DS methods exhibit distinct computational complexities. In scenarios with constrained computational resources, opting for a DS method that requires fewer sampling points can effectively balance the trade-off between computational efficiency and accuracy. Furthermore, a small truncation limit values t, and a small search interval [μmin,2] can achieve high accuracy with a finite complexity.

4. Simulation Results

In order to analyze the performance of the proposed algorithm, the results of the simulation are provided in this section. The proposed GLGCF algorithm is compared with several existing algorithms: CKF [33], UKF [8], PF [34], GCF [13], and MCGCF [20]. To evaluate the filtering accuracy, the root mean square error (RMSE) and average RMSE (ARMSE) are defined as follows:

(46)RMSE(k)=1Mj=1M[(xi,kjx^i,kj)2],k=1,2,,n,

(47)ARMSE=1nk=1n1Mj=1M[(xi,kjx^i,kj)2],

where xkj denotes the real state, and x^kj represents the estimate of xkj for jth Monte Carlo run at discrete time k, n is the number of iterations and M denotes the number of Monte Carlo runs.

4.1. Constant Velocity Tracking Model

In this simulation, a constant velocity (CV) surface-target-tracking model is used to evaluate the filtering performance of the proposed robust GLGCF algorithm in the presence of high maneuvering speed and non-Gaussian noise. The state and measurement equations for the CV model are defined as follows:

(48)xk=1T000100001T0001xk1+wk1,

(49)zk=αk2+βk2arctanβkαk+vk,

where xkαk,α˙k,βk,β˙kT with position (αk,α˙k) and velocity (βk,β˙k). T represents the sampling period. wk denotes the process noise with its covariance matrix Qkw, and vk stands for the measurement noise with its covariance matrix Rkv.

We consider the two scenarios with different measurement noise model as follows.

4.1.1. Heavy-Tailed Noise

Scenario 1: Based on the non-Gaussian noise simulation method [21], assume that the presence of non-Gaussian measurement noise with heavy tails is modeled by a mixed Gaussian distribution as described below:

(50)vk0.9N(0,diag[(10m)2,(10mrad)2])+0.1N(0,400diag[(10m)2,(10mrad)2]),

The initial state is generated from x0Nx^0,P0, where N(x^0,P0) is a Gaussian distribution with mean x^0=100m,30m/s,100m,20m/sT and with covariance P0=diag10m2,1m2/s2,10m2,1m2/s2T. The sampling period T = 1 s. The process noise covariance is Qkw=diag[0.01M,0.01M] with M=T3/4,T3/2;T2/2,T. For GLGCF, the parameters t and c are set as 10 and 1, respectively. The minimum shape parameter is set as μmin=15. The results of state estimate are obtained after 50 Monte Carlo runs.

Figure 1 shows the RMSE of GLGCF against other nonlinear filters. As can be seen from Figure 1, GLGCF and MCGCF are superior to GCF. This finding shows that, under a heavy-tailed noise environment, replacing the MMSE criterion with the maximum correntropy criterion (MCC) or GL in the GCF improves both the accuracy and robustness of the filter. Furthermore, the comparison shows that the GLGCF outperforms the MCGCF, indicating that GL is more effective than MCC in handling heavy-tailed noise.

4.1.2. Mixed Noise

Scenario 2: In this scenario, the measurement noise is assumed to follow an additive combination of two Gaussian noise distributions.

(51)vk0.5N(0,0.1diag[(20m)2,(2π180rad)2])+0.5N(0,0.1diag[(30m)2,(4π180rad)2]),

The initial state is generated from x0Nx^0,P0, where N(x^0,P0) is a Gaussian distribution with mean x^0=100m,30m/s,100m,20m/sT and with covariance P0=diag10m2,1m2/s2,10m2,1m2/s2T. The sampling period T = 1 s. The process noise covariance is Qkw=diag[0.01M,0.01M] with M=T3/4,T3/2;T2/2,T. For GLGCF, the parameters t and c are set as 10 and 1, respectively. The minimum shape parameter is set as μmin=15. The results of state estimate are obtained after 50 Monte Carlo runs.

The comparative results of different filters in the presence of mixed measurement noise are shown in Figure 2, Table 2 and Table 3. In comparison to the UKF, CKF, GCF, and PF, both the MCGCF and the GLGCF exhibit better performance. This is due to the use of the generalized transformation, which limits the higher-order errors associated with the DS technique, resulting in improved accuracy. Futhermore, as can be seen in Figure 2, Table 2 and Table 3, the proposed GLGCF algorithm achieves the highest estimation accuracy, demonstrating its superior performance in predicting both position and velocity estimation in the mixed-noise environment.

4.2. Cooperative Turning Tracking Model

In this simulation, the cooperative turning (CT) target-tracking model is used to evaluate the filtering performance of the proposed GLGCF algorithm under heavy-tailed and mixed-noise environments. The CT model is well known as a fundamental maneuvering model in surface target tracking and is especially prevalent in describing the dynamics of maneuvering targets in unmanned surface vehicle tracking. The state and measurement equations for the CT model are presented below:

(52)xk=1sinΩTΩ01cosΩTΩ0cosΩT0sinΩT01cosΩTΩ1sinΩTΩ0sinΩT0cosΩTxk1+wk,

(53)zk=αk2+βk2arctanβkαk+vk,

where xkαk,α˙k,βk,β˙kT with position (αk,α˙k) and velocity (βk,β˙k).T represents the sampling period, and Ω represents the tuning rate. wk denotes the process noise with its covariance matrix Qkw, and vk represents the measurement noise with covariance matrix Rkv.

We consider the four scenarios with different measurement noise models below.

4.2.1. Heavy-Tailed Noise

Scenario 1: The robustness of the GLGCF algorithm against non-Gaussian noise is demonstrated by assuming the measurement noise in Equation (53) to be heavy-tailed, generated by a mixture of Gaussian distributions with different variances:

(54)vk0.9N(0,diag[(10m)2,(10mrad)2])+0.1N(0,400diag[(10m)2,(10mrad)2]),

Scenario 2: The probability of large outliers in the measurement noise is increased as follows:

(55)vk0.8N(0,diag[(10m)2,(10mrad)2])+0.2N(0,400diag[(10m)2,(10mrad)2]).

The initial state is generated from x0Nx^0,P0, where N(x^0,P0) is a Gaussian distribution with mean x^0=100m,80m/s,100m,120m/sT and with covariance P0=diag10m2,1m2/s2,10m2,1m2/s2T. The sampling period T = 1 s and tuning rate Ω=π19 rad. The process noise covariance is Qkw=diag[0.04M,0.04M] with M=T3/3,T3/2;T2/2,T. For GLGCF, the parameters t and c are set as 10 and 1, respectively. The minimum shape parameter is set as μmin=15. The results of the state estimate are obtained after 50 Monte Carlo runs.

The RMSEs for different algorithms under heavy-tailed noise in scenario 1 and scenario 2 are depicted in Figure 3 and Figure 4, respectively. The ARMSEs of position and velocity estimates in scenarios 1 and 2 are summarized in Table 4 and Table 5, respectively. As shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, the filtering accuracy of GLGCF is superior to GCF, MCGCF, CKF, and UKF. This confirms that incorporating the GL into the GCF improves the estimation accuracy and robustness of the filter when dealing with heavy-tailed noise. In the presence of measurement noise that includes outliers, the GCF suffers from performance degradation. However, the use of MCC and GL function stabilizes the GCF by performing nonlinear iterations on the anomalous measurements. Both MCGCF and GLGCF maintain stable performance, with GLGCF achieving superior performance. The results indicate that, in the non-Gaussian noise environments, the optimal form of the loss function can be automatically determined by the error distribution, thanks to the use of the residual optimization parameter.

4.2.2. Mixed Noise

Scenario 3: The measurement noise is characterized by a mixture of Gaussian distributions, with different variances for the position and velocity:

(56)vk0.5N(0,0.05diag[(25m)2,(3π180rad)2])+0.5N(0,0.05diag[(30m)2,(9π180rad)2]),

Scenario 4: In this scenario, the measurement noise is also a mixture of two Gaussian distributions, with the following mixture weights:

(57)vk0.7N(0,0.05diag[(25m)2,(3π180rad)2])+0.3N(0,0.05diag[(30m)2,(9π180rad)2]).

The initial state is generated from x0Nx^0,P0, where N(x^0,P0) is a Gaussian distribution with mean x^0=100m,80m/s,100m,120m/sT and with covariance P0=text10m2,1m2/s2,10m2,1m2/s2T. The sampling period T = 1 s and tuning rate Ω=π19 rad. The process noise covariance is Qkw=diag[0.04M,0.04M] with M=T3/3,T3/2;T2/2,T. For GLGCF, the parameters t and c are set as 10 and 1, respectively. The minimum shape parameter is set as μmin=15. The results of state estimate are obtained after 50 Monte Carlo runs.

Figure 5 and Figure 6 show the RMSE curves of UKF, CKF, GCF, MCGCF and GLGCF in the mixed measurement noise. Table 4 and Table 5 summarize the ARMSEs of position and velocity estimates in scenario 3 and scenario 4. It can be seen in Figure 5 and Figure 6, Table 4 and Table 5, the RMSE and ARMSE achieved by GLGCF algorithm are smaller than those of other compared algorithms. In the mixed-noise environment, the estimation accuracy of MCGCF and GLGCF becomes closer, with GLGCF still providing the best filtering accuracy. Compared to the heavy-tailed environment, the advantage of GLGCF is less distinct in the mixed-noise environment. This can be attributed to the absence of large outliers in the measurement noise, where both GCF and MCGCF offer good filtering results. Therefore, GLGCF exhibits its robustness against the impact of outliers, providing superior performance in more complex environments.

5. Conclusions

In this paper, an extended version of the generalized conversion filter (GCF), namely generalized loss-based generalized conversion filter (GLGCF), is proposed. The GCF performs well in the Gaussian noise environment. However, the performance of GCF is significantly deteriorated when the system encounters non-Gaussian noise, primarily due to the the characteristics of the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. To tackle this challenge, the proposed GLGCF algorithm is reformulated using a nonlinear regression model, employing the generalized loss (GL) instead of MMSE criterion to estimate the system state. Moreover, the residual vectors are incorporated into the negative log-likelihood of GL to optimize the parameters, thereby reducing the burden for manual tuning. Finally, two simulations on target-tracking models are carried out to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed GLGCF algorithm. The results indicate that this proposed GLGCF algorithm exhibits excellent performance when the system is affected by non-Gaussian noise.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Z.K. and S.W.; methodology, S.W.; software, Z.K.; validation, S.W. and Y.Z.; formal analysis, S.W.; investigation, Y.Z.; resources, S.W.; data curation, Z.K. and Y.Z.; writing—original draft preparation, Z.K.; writing—review and editing, S.W. and Y.Z.; visualization, Z.K.; supervision, S.W. and Y.Z.; project administration, S.W.; funding acquisition, S.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

Data are contained within the article.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Abbreviations

The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript:

KFKalman filter
GCFgeneralized conversion filter
GLgeneralized loss
MCCmaximum correntropy criterion
ITLinformation-theoretic learning
MCGCFmaximum correntropy generalized conversion filter
GLGCFgeneralized loss generalized conversion filter
DSdeterministic sampling
NLLnegative log-likelihood
UCFuncorrelated conversion-based filter
OCFoptimized conversion-sample filter
MMSEminimum mean square error
LMMSElinear minimum mean square error
EKFextended Kalman filter
UKFunscented Kalman filter
PFparticle filter
GHKFGauss–Hermite Kalman filter
GHQGauss–Hermite quadrature
CVconstant velocity
CTcooperative turning

Footnotes

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Figures and Tables
View Image - Figure 1. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CV model under the scenario 1. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

Figure 1. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CV model under the scenario 1. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

View Image - Figure 2. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CV model under the scenario 2. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

Figure 2. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CV model under the scenario 2. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

View Image - Figure 3. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CT model under the scenario 1. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

Figure 3. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CT model under the scenario 1. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

View Image - Figure 4. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CT model under the scenario 2. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

Figure 4. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CT model under the scenario 2. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

View Image - Figure 5. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CT model under the scenario 3. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

Figure 5. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CT model under the scenario 3. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

View Image - Figure 6. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CT model under the scenario 4. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

Figure 6. RMSEs of different filters in estimating the CT model under the scenario 4. (a) Position (m); (b) velocity (m/s).

Computational complexity of GLGCF.

Equations Addition/Subtraction and Multiplication Division, Matrix Inversion, Matrix Decomposition and Nonlinear Function
(9)–(14) 2 n 3 + 2 n 2 n O ( n C h )
(45) ( 2 μ min + 1 ) ( n + m + N i n t ) 0
(34) ( n + m ) 3 + 2 ( n + m ) 2 O ( ( n + m ) 3 )
(16)–(17) 0 O ( n n ξ ( n ξ 1 ) 2 )
(39) n ( n ξ + 1 ) 0
(40) n 2 ( n ξ + 1 ) O ( n ξ + n )
(41) n 2 n ξ + 2 n n ξ 2 + n ξ 3 O ( n n ξ ) + O ( n ξ 2 ) + O ( n 3 )
(42) 2 ( n + m ) n ξ O ( n ξ )
(43) n ξ 3 + 2 n ξ 2 + n ξ O ( n ξ )

ARMSE of position (m) in the CV model under the different scenarios.

Scenarios UKF CKF PF GCF MCGCF GLGCF
Scenario 1 331.0570 321.7577 200.8265 19.9223 14.0247 13.6668
Scenario 2 139.9913 132.5550 89.1356 14.9162 13.1251 12.6863

ARMSE of velocity (m/s) in the CV model under the different scenarios.

Scenarios UKF CKF PF GCF MCGCF GLGCF
Scenario 1 6.5610 6.4221 5.6947 4.2621 2.2781 2.0044
Scenario 2 2.7687 2.6409 2.2559 2.0620 1.3540 1.2733

ARMSE of position (m) in the CT model under the different scenarios.

Scenarios UKF CKF PF GCF MCGCF GLGCF
Scenario 1 85.2765 94.7279 58.2086 23.2924 17.1634 16.2886
Scenario 2 94.5022 101.3773 89.3779 49.4746 34.2448 30.4771
Scenario 3 23.8895 25.5105 23.0006 12.8505 11.1167 9.1751
Scenario 4 23.7951 23.0617 21.2383 12.9255 8.2138 7.8886

ARMSE of velocity (m/s) in the CT model under the different scenarios.

Scenarios UKF CKF PF GCF MCGCF GLGCF
Scenario 1 9.3098 10.2566 6.6212 4.8973 4.0205 3.5092
Scenario 2 10.7348 11.3610 11.1311 9.5834 6.9961 5.9547
Scenario 3 3.0411 3.2034 2.5192 1.8945 1.5966 1.3459
Scenario 4 2.9521 2.9545 2.4829 1.9109 1.3261 1.2425

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