“Tracking” here refers to the estimation of a moving object with some degree of accuracy where at least one measurement is given. The measurement, which is the sensor-obtained output, contains systemic errors and errors that are due to the surrounding environment. Tracking filters play the key role of the target-state estimation after the updating of the tracking system; therefore, the type of filter that is used for the conduction of the estimations is crucial in the determining of the reliability of the updated value, and this is especially true since the performances of different filters vary when they are subjected to different environmental and initial conditions. The purpose of this paper is the conduction of a comparison between the performances of the α-β-γ filter and the Kalman filter regarding an ARPA-system tracking module that is used on board high-dynamic warships. The comparison is based on the capability of each filter to reduce noise and maintain a stable response. The residual error is computed from the difference between the true and predicted positions and the true and estimated positions for the given sample. The results indicate that the tracking accuracy of the Kalman filter is higher compared with that of the optimal α-β-γ filter; however, the response of the optimal α-β-γ filter is more stable.

• Anne Wanjiru Njonjo(Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O. Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya)
• Bao-Feng Pan(Graduate School of Korea Maritime and Ocean University, 727 Taejong-ro, Youngdo-gu, Busan 49112, Korea)
• Tae-Gweon Jeong(Division of Navigation, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, 727 Taejong-ro, Youngdo-gu, Busan 49112, Korea)