Measurement-to-Track Association and Finite-Set Statistics

Abstract: This is a shortened, clarified, and mathematically more rigorous version of the original arXiv version. Its first four findings remain unchanged from the original: 1) measurement-to-track associations (MTAs) in multitarget tracking (MTT) are heuristic and physically erroneous multitarget state models; 2) MTAs occur in the labeled random finite set (LRFS) approach only as purely mathematical abstractions that do not occur singly; 3) the labeled random finite set (LRFS) approach is not a mathematically obfuscated replication of multi-hypothesis tracking (MHT); and 4) the conventional interpretation of MHT is more consistent with classical than Bayesian statistics. This version goes beyond the original in including the following additional main finding: 5) a generalized, RFS-like interpretation results in a correct Bayesian formulation of MHT, based on MTA likelihood functions and MTA Markov transitions/.