Comparison of Ballistic-Coefficient-Based Estimation Algorithms for Precise Tracking of a Re-Entry Vehicle and its Impact Point Prediction

This paper studies the problem of tracking a re-entry vehicle (RV) in order to predict its impact point on the ground. Reentry target dynamics combined with super-high speed has a complex non-linearity due to ballistic coefficient variations. However, it is difficult to construct a database for the ballistic coefficient of a unknown vehicle for a wide range of variations, thus the reliability of target tracking performance cannot be guaranteed if accurate ballistic coefficient estimation is not achieved. Various techniques for ballistic coefficient estimation have been previously proposed, but limitations exist for the estimation of non-linear parts accurately without obtaining prior information. In this paper we propose the ballistic coefficient β model-based interacting multiple model-extended Kalman filter ( β-IMM-EKF) for precise tracking of an RV. To evaluate the performance, other ballistic coefficient model based filters, which are gamma augmented filter, gamma bootstrapped filter were compared and assessed with the proposed β-IMM-EKF for precise tracking of an RV.