Sensors (Aug 2022)

Small Target Recognition and Tracking Based on UAV Platform

  • Xiangrui Tian,
  • Yinjun Jia,
  • Xin Luo,
  • Jie Yin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s22176579
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 22, no. 17
p. 6579

Abstract

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Target recognition and tracking based on multi-rotor UAVs have the advantages of low cost and high flexibility. It can monitor low-altitude targets with high intensity. It has great application prospects in national defense, military, and civil fields. The existing algorithms for aerial small target recognition and tracking have the disadvantages of slow speed, low accuracy, poor robustness, and insufficient intelligence. Aiming at the problems of existing algorithms, this paper first makes a lightweight improvement for the YOLOv4 network recognition algorithm suitable for small target recognition and tests it on the VisDrone dataset. The accuracy of the improved algorithm is increased by 1.5% and the speed is increased by 3.3 times. Then, by analyzing the response value, the KCF tracking situation is judged, and the template update of the adaptive learning rate is realized. When the tracking fails, the target is re-searched and tracked based on the recognition results and the similarity judgment. Finally, experiments are carried out on the multi-rotor UAV, and the adaptive zoom tracking strategy is designed to track pedestrians, cars, and UAVs. The results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve stable tracking of long-distance small targets.

Keywords