Robust Exploration with Multiple Hypothesis Data Association

Life-long and robust operation are important challenges to be solved towards everyday usability of service robots. Global localization is of particular interest for real-world applications. If a robot would not be able to relocalize itself within a known map, all positions stored by the robot (rooms, objects, etc.) would become obsolete. Although Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) allows to initially map new and unknown environments and to keep track of environmental changes, it does not solve the global localization problem. Each time SLAM is restarted at different locations, it introduces a new map and a new frame of reference. In this paper, we propose a solution to the global localization problem which uses a SLAM generated feature map. The approach is demonstrated with an omnicam and bearing-only features. A new way to weight hypotheses and to sort out false hypotheses results in fast convergence even with arbitrary relocalization paths. The combined approach is a further step towards life-long operation of service robots and covers every part of a robot lifecycle, ranging from a setup via SLAM to efficient global localization for reuse of maps and object poses after restart.

In this paper, an algorithm for tracking multiple maneuvering targets by Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) with nonlinear non-Gaussian Kalman filter is investigated. The main challenges in multiple maneuvering targets tracking are the nonlinearity and non -Gaussianity problems. The Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) is used to detect the multiple targets in maneuverable and non-maneuverable modes. The computational requirements increase exponentially with number of tracks, the backscan depth and this can be reduced by careful design and tuning of MHT. The 1-backscan MHT algorithm is a good compromise between the two conflicting requirements of good tracking performance and limitation of computation time. The nonlinear non-Gaussian Kalman filter is used to track the target with high maneuver rate. The nonlinear non-Gaussian Kalman filter is implemented in MHT to give less probability of missing the target. The 1-backscan MHT with nonlinear non-Gaussian Kalman filter is free from computational burden by using simple probability concepts. This method of tracking also shows the reduction in the overshoot of root mean square error (RMSE).

This paper discusses several theoretical issues related to the score function for the measurement-to-track association/assignment decision in the track oriented version of the multiple hypothesis tracker (MHT). This score function is the likelihood ratio: the ratio of the pdf of a measurement having originated from a track, to the pdf of this measurement having a different origin. The likelihood ratio score is derived rigorously starting from the fully Bayesian (hypothesis oriented) MHT, which is shown to be amenable under some (reasonable) assumptions to the track oriented MHT. The latter can be implemented efficiently using multidimensional assignment. The main feature of a likelihood ratio is the fact that it is a (physically) dimensionless quantity and, consequently, can be used for the association of different numbers of measurements and/or measurements of different dimension. The explicit forms of the likelihood ratio are discussed both for the commonly used Kalman tracking filter, as well as for the interacting multiple model estimator. The issues of measurements of different dimension and different coordinate systems are also discussed.

In this paper, we present an approach performing object behavior classification embedded in a complex and efficient perception method. This method, applied in dynamic outdoor environments using a moving vehicle equipped with a laser scanner, is composed of a local simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) with detection and tracking of moving objects (DATMO). While the SLAM is performed by an implementation of incremental scan matching method, the tracking if performed by a Multiple Hypothesis Tracker (MHT) coupled with an adaptive Interacting Multiple Models Filter (IMM). The classification process takes place in the filtering stage and is based on one of the key parameters of the IMM filter which is the Transition Probability Matrix (TPM) modeling objects motion transitions. It permits to automatically classify object behavior and to reuse the classification output to enhance the prediction step in the filtering process. The experimental results on datasets collected from a Daimler Mercedes demonstrator in the framework of the European Project PReVENT-ProFusion2 demonstrate the capacity of the proposed algorithm.

To date, Wald sequential probability ratio test (WSPRT) has been widely applied to track management of multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT). But in a real situation, if the false alarm spatial density is much larger than the new target spatial density, the original track score will be very close to the deletion threshold of the WSPRT. Consequently, all tracks, including target tracks, may easily be deleted, which means that the tracking performance is sensitive to the tracking environment. Meanwhile, if a target exists for a long time, its track will have a high score, which will make the track survive for a long time even after the target has disappeared. In this paper, to consider the relationship between the hypotheses of the test, we adopt the Shiryayev SPRT (SSPRT) for track management in MHT. By introducing a hypothesis transition probability, the original track score can increase faster, which solves the first problem. In addition, by setting an independent SSPRT for track deletion, the track score can decrease faster, which solves the second problem. The simulation results show that the proposed SSPRT-based MHT can achieve better tracking performance than MHT based on the WSPRT under a high false alarm spatial density.

Path planning and obstacle avoidance involve planning a feasible path from the initial to goal conflgurations while avoiding obstacles. This paper presents a vision-based three dimensional navigation frame mapping and path planning technique for collision avoidance for Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) using a forward-looking onboard camera. Using computer vision algorithms, a depth map representing the range and bearing to obstacles is obtained. Based on the depth map, we use the extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to estimate the range and azimuth to obstacles and the height of obstacles and use the joint compatibility branch and bound (JCBB) algorithm to associate the camera measurements with the existing obstacles. A three dimensional map, constructed in cylindrical coordinates, is then created in the navigation frame of the MAV. We employ the Rapidly-Exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm to flnd collision-free Dubins paths in the navigation frame. The simulation results show that the proposed technique is successful in solving path planning and multiple obstacles avoidance problems for MAVs.

Hypothesis formation is a major computational burden for any multiple hypotheses tracking (MHT) method. In particular, a track-oriented MHT method defines compatible tracks to be tracks not sharing common observations and then re-forms hypotheses from compatible tracks after each new scan of data is received. The Cheap Joint Probabilistic Data Association (CJPDA) method provides an efficient means for computing approximate hypothesis probabilities. This paper presents a method of extending CJPDA calculations in order to eliminate low probability track branches in a track-oriented MHT method. The method is tested using IRST data. This approach reduces the number of tracks in a cluster and the resultant computations required for hypothesis formation. It is also suggested that the use of CJPDA methods can reduce assignment matrix sizes and resultant computations for the hypothesis-oriented (Reid’s algorithm) MHT implementation.

In this paper, we present a real-time algorithm for local simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) with detection and tracking of moving objects (DATMO) in dynamic outdoor environments from a moving vehicle equipped with a laser scanner. To correct vehicle location from odometry we introduce a new fast implementation of incremental scan matching method that can work reliably in dynamic outdoor environments. After a good vehicle location is estimated, the surrounding map is updated incrementally and moving objects are detected without a priori knowledge of the targets. Detected moving objects are finally tracked by a multiple hypothesis tracker (MHT) coupled with an adaptive IMM (interacting multiple models) filter. The experimental results on datasets collected from different scenarios such as: urban streets, country roads and highways demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm on a Daimler Mercedes demonstrator in the framework of the European Project PReVENT-ProFusion2.

Multiple frame data association, whether it is based on multiple hypothesis tracking or multi-dimensional assignment problems, has established itself as the method of choice for difficult tracking problems, principally due to the ability to hold difficult data association decisions in abeyance until additional information is available. Over the last twenty years, these methods have focused on one-to-one assignments, many-to-one, and many-to-many assignments. Group tracking, on the other hand, introduces new complexity into the association process, especially if some soft decision making capability is desired. Thus, the goal of this work is to combine multiple grouping hypotheses for each frame of data (tracks or measurements) with matching these hypotheses across multiple frames of data using one-to-one, many-to-one, or many-to-many assignments to determine the correct hypothesis on each frame of data and connectivity across the frames. The resulting formulation is sufficiently general to cover four broad classes of problems in multiple target tracking, namely (a) group cluster tracking, (b) pixel (clump) IR cluster tracking, (c) the merged measurement problem, and (d) MHT for track-to-track fusion. What is more, the cluster assignment problem for either two or multiple dimensions represents a generalized data association problem in the sense that it reduces to the classical assignment problems when there are no overlapping groups or clusters. The formulation of the assignment problem for resolved object tracking and candidate group methods for use in multiple frame group tracking are briefly reviewed. Then, three different formulations of the group assignment problem are developed.

Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) has attracted increasing attention due to its academic and commercial potential. However, it still remains challenging due to factors like data association ambiguity and abrupt appearance changes. To address these issues, we extended the multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) by incorporating the appearance features which extracted from faster region convolutional neural network (Faster-RCNN). Additionally, a principal component analysis method was introduced to update discriminative appearance features. Thus, the data association ambiguity can be reduced surprisingly by exploiting Faster-RCNN, which means fewer hypothesis for MHT. Meanwhile, the issue of abrupt appearance changes can be addressed by modeling discriminative appearance feature based-on MHT. Many experiments on MOT benchmark show competitive performance of the proposed approach in comparison with other state-of-art tracking methods.

In multi-target tracking, Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) can effectively solve the data association problem. However, traditional MHT can not make full use of motion information. In this work, we combine MHT with Interactive Multiple Model (IMM) estimator and feature fusion. New algorithm greatly improves the tracking performance due to the fact that IMM estimator provides better estimation and feature information enhances the accuracy of data association. The new algorithm is tested by tracking tropical fish in fish container. Experimental result shows that this algorithm can significantly reduce tracking lost rate and restrain the noises with higher computational effectiveness when compares with traditional MHT.

The crucial problem in multiple target tracking is the hit-to-track data association. A hit is a received signal from a target or background clutter which provides positional information. If an incorrect hit is associated with a track, that track could diverge and prematurely terminate or cause other tracks to also diverge. Most methods for hit-to-track data association fall into two categories: Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) and Joint Probabilistic Data Association (JPDA). Versions of MHT use all or some reasonable hits to update a track and delay the decision on which hit was correct. JPDA uses a weighted sum of the reasonable hits to update a track. These weights are the probability that the hit originated from the target in track. The computational load for the joint probabilities increase exponentially as the number of targets increases and therefore, is not an attractive algorithm when expecting to track many targets. This paper reviews the JPDA filter and two simple approximations of the joint probabilities which increase linearly in computational load as the number of targets increase. Then a new class of near optimal JPDA algorithms is introduced which run in polynomial time. The power of the polynomial is an input to the algorithm. This algorithm bridges the gap in computational load and accuracy between the very fast simple approximations and the efficient optimal algorithms.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Multiple people activity recognition system is an essential step in Ambient Assisted Living system development. A possible approach for multiple people is to take an existing system for single person activity recognition and extend it to the case of multiple people. One approach is Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) which provides capabilities of multiple people tracking and activity recognition based on the Dynamic Bayesian Network Model. The advantage of such systems is that the number of people can vary, while the disadvantage is that the activity recognition configuration cannot be done if only multiple people data is available for training.

Interacting multiple model (IMM) filtering and multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) represent the most accurate methods currently available for tracking multiple maneuvering targets in cluttered environments. Although these methods are complex, modern computational capabilities make their combined implementation feasible for modern tracking systems. This paper discusses alternative approaches for developing a combined IMM/MHT tracking system and describes specific implementations that have been developed for radar and IRST applications. Simulation results for both radar and IRST systems are presented. Track maintenance and accuracy performance for the IMM/MHT system is compared with that obtained from an MHT tracker using a conventional filtering approach. Results indicate that the improvements in data association derived from the use of IMM filtering with MHT may be comparable to the well known IMM improvements in track accuracy. The addition of multiple filter models to MHT data association has the potential to significantly increase computational requirements. Thus, several compromises, described in this paper, have been developed in order to assure computational feasibility. Preliminary estimates of computational requirements are given in order to demonstrate implementation feasibility.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

In this paper, we present a novel 2-D laser-based global localization approach for mobile robots, which is composed of geometrical relationship construction, a new structural unit encoding scheme (SUES), and an extended multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) algorithm. Different from existing methods, we construct a 3-D "directional endpoint" feature encapsulating both the endpoint and the direction of a line segment; on this basis, a novel and efficient online structural unit encoding scheme (SUES) is proposed to describe the geometric relationship between the two directional endpoint features with some robustness to dynamic disturbances. Note that SUES presented in this paper is different from the bag-of-words scheme in two aspects: 1) SUES quantizes the geometrical relationship without offline training for vocabulary and 2) SUES is independent of the quality of the vocabulary. By factoring the global localization problem into a discrete pose estimation problem, the MHT is extended on the basis of SUES and odometry information to gradually restore the global robot pose. Different from the classical MHT framework, the extended MHT takes the independent observation results as the a priori, while the likelihood term is composed of consecutive candidate poses and the odometry information. Evaluations are carried out by using both publicly available data sets and self-recorded data sets. Comparative experimental results with respect to the adaptive Monte Carlo localization are presented to show the superior performance of the proposed approach in terms of success ratio and efficiency.