Where Is Kalman Filter Used?

Kalman filters are used to optimally estimate the variables of interests when they can't be measured directly, but an indirect measurement is available. They are also used to find the best estimate of states by combining measurements from various sensors in the presence of noise.

Why is Kalman filter good?

Kalman filters are ideal for systems which are continuously changing. They have the advantage that they are light on memory (they don't need to keep any history other than the previous state), and they are very fast, making them well suited for real time problems and embedded systems.

Why is Kalman filtering so popular?

Using a windowed kalman filter for relinearization past states or when having correlated observations thru time steps, it is often much more easier to use the normal equations. In addition, the covariance matrix of the kalman filter can run into non positive semidefiniteness over time.