In this presentation we discuss the use of various assignment techniques for data association for large-scale multitarget tracking. The assignment approaches discussed include the (pseudo) polynomial-time solvable 2-D (two dimensional) assignment problem, the NP-hard S-D (S > 2) assignment problem, and the m-best (top m hypotheses) 2-D and m-best S-D assignment problems. Various well-known and recently developed optimal, suboptimal, static and dynamic assignment algorithms are also discussed. Extensions of assignment algorithms to closely-spaced object tracking are also presented. In addition, tracking results on large-scale air as well as ground surveillance problems are presented.

Dr. Thia Kirubarajan is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Dr. Kirubarajan's research interests are in estimation, target tracking, signal/image procesing, sensor resouce management, and signal detection and fault diagnosis. He has served as a Consultant to a number of companies including Motorola and Lockheed Martin Corporation. Currently, Dr. Kirubarajan is serving as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems. Previously, he was an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Systems, man, and Cybernetics (Part B). He is also a receipient of the Ontario Premier's Research Excellence Award.