Nonlinear sonar contact tracking always presents a significant observability challenge. Observability as it relates to sonar tracking is the metric used to determine if a state estimate is uniquely identifiable given a history of measurements. Poor observability is troublesome to all nonlinear tracking filters to varying degrees. Observability criteria are used to assess the degree of observability and many observability criteria require, in some way, an observer maneuver. But when observability criteria are evaluated with real data they are evaluated in the presence of “micromaneuvers” due to unmodeled forces. The issue associated with these micromaneuvers is that they satisfy, mathematically, observability criteria but hold little practical value for obtaining trustworthy state estimates. This article chooses a recent observability criterion and examines its utility for passive sonar tracking with a towed array. The analysis performed provides guidance to all similar observability criteria when applied to the passive sonar tracking with a towed array and implies such criteria will be most valuable in applications with minimal navigation perturbations.

中文翻译：

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无源拖曳阵列声纳跟踪的可观测性标准指导

非线性声纳接触跟踪总是提出重大的可观测性挑战。与声纳跟踪相关的可观察性是用于确定在给定测量历史的情况下状态估计是否是唯一可识别的指标。可观测性差对所有非线性跟踪滤波器都有不同程度的困扰。可观察性标准用于评估可观察性的程度，许多可观察性标准在某种程度上需要观察者机动。但是，当使用真实数据评估可观察性标准时，由于未建模的力，它们会在存在“微机动”的情况下进行评估。与这些微机动相关的问题是它们在数学上满足可观察性标准，但对于获得可信赖的状态估计几乎没有实际价值。本文选择了一个最近的可观测性标准，并检查了它在拖曳阵列被动声纳跟踪中的实用性。所执行的分析为所有类似的可观测性标准提供了指导，当应用于使用拖曳阵列的被动声纳跟踪时，并暗示这些标准在导航扰动最小的应用中将是最有价值的。