1 \documentclass[12pt
]{article
}%
12 We present the Kalman filter in perhaps the most used form, as extended to nonlinear models.
13 Consider a discrete time model of some natural
14 process. At time step $k$, the model has state $u_
{k
}\in\mathbb{R
}^
{n
}$, which
15 can be approximated from the previous step $u_
{k-
1}$ by applying the model
16 $
\mathcal{M
}$ to get a forecast $u_
{k
}^
{f
}=
\mathcal{M
}\left( u_
{k-
1}\right)
17 $. We model uncertainty in the model itself by adding normally distributed
18 noise with mean zero and covariance $Q$ to the uncertainty of $u_
{k
}^
{f
}$. We
19 also need to estimate now the uncertainty in the previous state $u_
{k-
1}$
20 propagates to the uncertainty of the forecast $u_
{k
}^
{f
}$. So, assume that the
21 model is differentiable and quantify the uncertainty of the state by a
22 covariance matrix. That is, assume that at step $k-
1$, the state has
23 (approximately) normal distribution with mean $u_
{k-
1}$ and covariance
24 $P_
{k-
1}$. Using the Taylor expansion of order $
1$ of the model operator at
25 $u_
{k-
1}$, $
\mathcal{M
}\left( u
\right)
\approx\mathcal{M
}\left(
26 u_
{k-
1}\right) +
\mathcal{M
}^
{\prime}\left( u_
{k-
1}\right)
\left(
27 u-u_
{k-
1}\right) $, where $
\mathcal{M
}^
{\prime}\left( u_
{k-
1}\right) $ is
28 the Jacobian matrix of $
\mathcal{M
}$ at $u_
{k-
1}$. It can be shown that the
29 forecast has then (approximately)\ normal distribution with mean and
32 u_
{k
}^
{f
}=
\mathcal{M
}\left( u_
{k-
1}\right) ,\ P_
{k
}^
{f
}=
\mathcal{M
}\left(
33 u_
{k-
1}\right) P_
{k-
1}\mathcal{M
}^
{\prime}\left( u_
{k-
1}\right) +Q
35 At time $k$, we also have an observation $d_
{k
}\approx Hu_
{k
}$, where $H$ is a
36 given observation operator, and we want to find $u_
{k
}$ so that both
38 u_
{k
}\approx u_
{k
}^
{f
}\text{ and
}d_
{k
}\approx Hu_
{k
}.
40 We quantify the uncertainly of the error of observation $d_
{k
}$ by a covariance
41 matrix $R$: assume that the observation error has normal probability
42 distribution with a known covariance $R$. Then, the likelihood of state $u$ is
43 proportional to $e^
{-
\left\Vert d_
{k
}-Hu
\right\Vert _
{R^
{-
1}}^
{2}/
2}$, where
44 we used the notation for the norm $
\left\Vert v
\right\Vert _
{A
}%
45 =
\left(v^
{\top}Av
\right)^
{1/
2}$ induced by a positive definite matrix $A$. Similarly, we quantify the
46 uncertainty of the state by a covariance matrix $P_
{k
}$. That is, the forecast
47 state has (approximately) normal distribution with mean $u_
{k
}^
{f
}$ and covariance
48 $P_
{k
}^
{f
}$. From the Bayes theorem of statistics, the probability distribution
49 of the state after taking the data into account has density
%
51 p_
{k
}\left( u
\right)
\propto e^
\frac{-
\left\Vert d_
{k
}
52 -Hu
\right\Vert_{R^
{-
1}}^
{2}}{2}e^
\frac{-
\left\Vert u-u_
{k
}^
{f
}\right\Vert _
{
53 {P_
{k
}^f
}^
{-
1} }^
{2}}{2}%
55 where $
\propto$ means proportional.
56 Note that the probability density at $u$ is maximal when $
\left\Vert
57 d_
{k
}-Hu
\right\Vert _
{R^
{-
1}}^
{2}+
\left\Vert u-u_
{k
}\right\Vert _
{{P_
{k
}^
{f
}}^
{-
1}}^
{2}$
58 is minimal, which quantifies the statement that $d_
{k
}\approx
59 Hu_
{k
}$ and $u
\approx u_
{k
}^
{f
}$. By a direct computation completing the
60 square and using the Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury formula,
74 which is the density of the normal distribution with the mean
76 u_
{k
}^
{f
}=u_
{k
}^
{f
}+K_
{k
}(d-Hu_
{k
}^
{f
}),\
\text{where
}K_
{k
}=P_
{k
}%
77 ^
{f
}H^
{\mathrm{T
}}(HP_
{k
}^
{f
}H^
{\mathrm{T
}}+R)^
{-
1}%
81 P_
{k
}=
\left(
\left( P_
{k
}^
{f
}\right) ^
{-
1}+H^
{\mathrm{T
}}R^
{-
1}H
\right)
82 ^
{-
1}=(I-KH)P_
{k
}^
{f
}.
85 These are the equations of the extended Kalman filter. The original Kalman (
1960) filter was
86 formulated for a linear process. The extension to the
87 nonlinear case made broad array of applications possible, including the Apollo spacecraft naviation (McGee and Schmidt,
1966), and is
88 still a de-facto standard in navigation and GPS.