Jointly-optimized Searching and Tracking with Random Finite Sets

In this paper we investigate the problem of joint searching and tracking of multiple mobile targets by a group of mobile agents. The targets appear and disappear at random times inside a surveillance region and their positions are random and unknown. The agents have limited sensing range and receive noisy measurements from the targets. A decision and control problem arises, where the mode of operation (i.e. search or track) as well as the mobility control action for each agent, at each time instance, must be determined so that the collective goal of searching and tracking is achieved. We build our approach upon the theory of random finite sets (RFS) and we use Bayesian multi-object stochastic filtering to simultaneously estimate the time-varying number of targets and their states from a sequence of noisy measurements. We formulate the above problem as a non-linear binary program (NLBP) and show that it can be approximated by a genetic algorithm. Finally, to study the effectiveness and performance of the proposed approach we have conducted extensive simulation experiments.