# Joint Estimation and Control for Multi-Target Passive Monitoring with an Autonomous UAV Agent

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.06633 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.06633/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 13 Jul 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [VLM-RRT: Vision Language Model Guided RRT Search for Autonomous UAV Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.23267/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This work considers the problem of passively monitoring multiple moving targets with a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) agent equipped with a direction-finding radar. This is in general a challenging problem due to the unobservability of the target states, and the highly non-linear measurement process. In addition to these challenges, in this work we also consider: a) environments with multiple obstacles where the targets need to be tracked as they manoeuvre through the obstacles, and b) multiple false-alarm measurements caused by the cluttered environment. To address these challenges we first design a model predictive guidance controller which is used to plan hypothetical target trajectories over a rolling finite planning horizon. We then formulate a joint estimation and control problem where the trajectory of the UAV agent is optimized to achieve optimal multi-target monitoring.