SAFE-IMM: Robust and Lightweight Radar-Based Object Tracking on Mobile Platforms

TL;DR

SAFE-IMM is a lightweight, robust radar-based object tracking method for mobile platforms that balances responsiveness and smoothness, reducing ID switches and maintaining real-time accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces SAFE-IMM, a novel covariance-aware gating mechanism for IMM filters that improves maneuver tracking on resource-limited platforms.

Findings

Achieves high accuracy at real-time rates in simulations and real data.

Reduces ID switches compared to standard methods.

Maintains robustness and stability in cluttered environments.

Abstract

Tracking maneuvering targets requires estimators that are both responsive and robust. Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) filters are a standard tracking approach, but fusing models via Gaussian mixtures can lag during maneuvers. Recent winnertakes-all (WTA) approaches react quickly but may produce discontinuities. We propose SAFE-IMM, a lightweight IMM variant for tracking on mobile and resource-limited platforms with a safe covariance-aware gate that permits WTA only when the implied jump from the mixture to the winner is provably bounded. In simulations and on nuScenes front-radar data, SAFE-IMM achieves high accuracy at real-time rates, reducing ID switches while maintaining competitive performance. The method is simple to integrate, numerically stable, and clutter-robust, offering a practical balance between responsiveness and smoothness.