Tracking gate algorithm for general nonlinear systems with target class information

Multitarget tracking in clutter usually involves data association. The traditional method to handle this problem is to construct a tracking gate for predicting the position of the target being tracked, which leads to great uncertainties of measurements-to-tracks association with the unknown class of targets. This paper proposes a new tracking gate algorithm for general nonlinear systems, where the target class information is integrated into our algorithm. Firstly, a joint probability density description of the target state and target class is given, by which the tracking gates for each target class in general nonlinear system are developed. Then, a simulation with ground formation target tracking is carried out to examine our algorithm. Compared with the traditional tracking gate, the results demonstrate that our algorithm has significantly improved the probabilities of the measurements-to-tracks association

Pedestrian Models for Autonomous Driving Part I: Low-Level Models, from Sensing to Tracking

Abstract—Autonomous vehicles (AVs) must share space with pedestrians, both in carriageway cases such as cars at pedestrian crossings and off-carriageway cases such as delivery vehicles navigating through crowds on pedestrianized high-streets. Unlike static obstacles, pedestrians are active agents with complex, inter- active motions. Planning AV actions in the presence of pedestrians thus requires modelling of their probable future behaviour as well as detecting and tracking them. This narrative review article is Part I of a pair, together surveying the current technology stack involved in this process, organising recent research into a hierarchical taxonomy ranging from low-level image detection to high-level psychology models, from the perspective of an AV designer. This self-contained Part I covers the lower levels of this stack, from sensing, through detection and recognition, up to tracking of pedestrians. Technologies at these levels are found to be mature and available as foundations for use in high-level systems, such as behaviour modelling, prediction and interaction control

Multi Sensor Multi Target Perception and Tracking for Informed Decisions in Public Road Scenarios

Multi-target tracking in public traffic calls for a tracking system with automated track initiation and termination facilities in a randomly evolving driving environment. Besides, the key problem of data association needs to be handled effectively considering the limitations in the computational resources on-board an autonomous car. The challenge of the tracking problem is further evident in the use of high-resolution automotive sensors which return multiple detections per object. Furthermore, it is customary to use multiple sensors that cover different and/or over-lapping Field of View and fuse sensor detections to provide robust and reliable tracking. As a consequence, in high-resolution multi-sensor settings, the data association uncertainty, and the corresponding tracking complexity increases pointing to a systematic approach to handle and process sensor detections. In this work, we present a multi-target tracking system that addresses target birth/initiation and death/termination processes with automatic track management features. These tracking functionalities can help facilitate perception during common events in public traffic as participants (suddenly) change lanes, navigate intersections, overtake and/or brake in emergencies, etc. Various tracking approaches including the ones based on joint integrated probability data association (JIPDA) filter, Linear Multi-target Integrated Probabilistic Data Association (LMIPDA) Filter, and their multi-detection variants are adapted to specifically include algorithms that handle track initiation and termination, clutter density estimation and track management. The utility of the filtering module is further elaborated by integrating it into a trajectory tracking problem based on model predictive control. To cope with tracking complexity in the case of multiple high-resolution sensors, we propose a hybrid scheme that combines the approaches of data clustering at the local sensor and multiple detections tracking schemes at the fusion layer. We implement a track-to-track fusion scheme that de-correlates local (sensor) tracks to avoid double counting and apply a measurement partitioning scheme to re-purpose the LMIPDA tracking algorithm to multi-detection cases. In addition to the measurement partitioning approach, a joint extent and kinematic state estimation scheme are integrated into the LMIPDA approach to facilitate perception and tracking of an individual as well as group targets as applied to multi-lane public traffic. We formulate the tracking problem as a two hierarchical layer. This arrangement enhances the multi-target tracking performance in situations including but not limited to target initialization(birth process), target occlusion, missed detections, unresolved measurement, target maneuver, etc. Also, target groups expose complex individual target interactions to help in situation assessment which is challenging to capture otherwise. The simulation studies are complemented by experimental studies performed on single and multiple (group) targets. Target detections are collected from a high-resolution radar at a frequency of 20Hz; whereas RTK-GPS data is made available as ground truth for one of the target vehicle\u27s trajectory

Advances and Applications of Dezert-Smarandache Theory (DSmT), Vol. 1

The Dezert-Smarandache Theory (DSmT) of plausible and paradoxical reasoning is a natural extension of the classical Dempster-Shafer Theory (DST) but includes fundamental differences with the DST. DSmT allows to formally combine any types of independent sources of information represented in term of belief functions, but is mainly focused on the fusion of uncertain, highly conflicting and imprecise quantitative or qualitative sources of evidence. DSmT is able to solve complex, static or dynamic fusion problems beyond the limits of the DST framework, especially when conflicts between sources become large and when the refinement of the frame of the problem under consideration becomes inaccessible because of vague, relative and imprecise nature of elements of it. DSmT is used in cybernetics, robotics, medicine, military, and other engineering applications where the fusion of sensors\u27 information is required

Pistage multi-senseurs de cible occasionnellement occultée en milieu urbain

Cet article présente le développement théorique d'une version multi-senseurs du filtre de poursuite IPDAF récemment proposé par l'auteur. L'avantage de l'IPDAF par rapport au filtre PDAF classique est la prise en compte à la fois des fausses alarmes, de la détection manquante de la cible et de la perception de celle-ci par le senseur. La perception de la cible est en général fortement dépendante de l'environnement dans lequel elle évolue et de la géométrie du problème à traiter. L'avantage de ce nouvel algorithme est de pouvoir poursuivre des cibles dans des conditions moins restrictives que les algorithmes disponibles jusqu'à présent. Nous donnons un exemple de cet algorithme pour le pistage 2D d'une cible terrestre occasionnellement occultée en milieu urbain

Evaluation and extensions of the probabilistic multi-hypothesis tracking algorithm to cluttered environments

This research examines the probabilistic multi-hypothesis tracker (PHMT), a batch mode, empirical, Bayesian data association and tracking algorithm. Like a traditional multi-hypothesis tracker (MHT), track estimation is deferred until more conclusive data is gathered. However, unlike a traditional algorithm, PMHT does not attempt to enumerate all possible combinations of feasible data association links, but uses a probabilistic structure derived using expectation maximization. This study focuses on two issues: the behavior of the PMHT algorithm in clutter and algorithm initialization in clutter. We also compare performance between this algorithm and other algorithms, including a nearest neighbor tracker, a probabilistic data association filter (PDAF), and a traditional measurement oriented MHT algorithm.Naval Undersea Warfare CenterApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Marginal multi-Bernoulli filters: RFS derivation of MHT, JIPDA and association-based MeMBer

Recent developments in random finite sets (RFSs) have yielded a variety of tracking methods that avoid data association. This paper derives a form of the full Bayes RFS filter and observes that data association is implicitly present, in a data structure similar to MHT. Subsequently, algorithms are obtained by approximating the distribution of associations. Two algorithms result: one nearly identical to JIPDA, and another related to the MeMBer filter. Both improve performance in challenging environments.Comment: Journal version at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7272821. Matlab code of simple implementation included with ancillary file