UIMM-Tracker: IMM-Based with Uncertainty Detection for Video Satellite Infrared Small-Target Tracking
Infrared video satellites have the characteristics of wide-area long-duration surveillance, enabling continuous operation day and night compared to visible light imaging methods. Therefore, they are widely used for continuous monitoring and tracking of important targets. However, energy attenuation...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/12/2052 |
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| author | Yuanxin Huang Xiyang Zhi Zhichao Xu Wenbin Chen Qichao Han Jianming Hu Yi Sui Wei Zhang |
| author_facet | Yuanxin Huang Xiyang Zhi Zhichao Xu Wenbin Chen Qichao Han Jianming Hu Yi Sui Wei Zhang |
| author_sort | Yuanxin Huang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Infrared video satellites have the characteristics of wide-area long-duration surveillance, enabling continuous operation day and night compared to visible light imaging methods. Therefore, they are widely used for continuous monitoring and tracking of important targets. However, energy attenuation caused by long-distance radiation transmission reduces imaging contrast and leads to the loss of edge contours and texture details, posing significant challenges to target tracking algorithm design. This paper proposes an infrared small-target tracking method, the UIMM-Tracker, based on the tracking-by-detection (TbD) paradigm. First, detection uncertainty is measured and injected into the multi-model observation noise, transferring the distribution knowledge of the detection process to the tracking process. Second, a dynamic modulation mechanism is introduced into the Markov transition process of multi-model fusion, enabling the tracking model to autonomously adapt to targets with varying maneuvering states. Additionally, detection uncertainty is incorporated into the data association method, and a distance cost matrix between trajectories and detections is constructed based on scale and energy invariance assumptions, improving tracking accuracy. Finally, the proposed method achieves average performance scores of 68.5%, 45.6%, 56.2%, and 0.41 in IDF1, MOTA, HOTA, and precision metrics, respectively, across 20 challenging sequences, outperforming classical methods and demonstrating its effectiveness. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8e81f1c1fb1e49aab4ab81628ad90c8b |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj-art-8e81f1c1fb1e49aab4ab81628ad90c8b2025-08-20T03:16:39ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922025-06-011712205210.3390/rs17122052UIMM-Tracker: IMM-Based with Uncertainty Detection for Video Satellite Infrared Small-Target TrackingYuanxin Huang0Xiyang Zhi1Zhichao Xu2Wenbin Chen3Qichao Han4Jianming Hu5Yi Sui6Wei Zhang7Research Center for Space Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, ChinaResearch Center for Space Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, ChinaResearch Center for Space Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, ChinaResearch Center for Space Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, ChinaResearch Center for Space Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, ChinaResearch Center for Space Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, ChinaResearch Center for Space Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, ChinaResearch Center for Space Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, ChinaInfrared video satellites have the characteristics of wide-area long-duration surveillance, enabling continuous operation day and night compared to visible light imaging methods. Therefore, they are widely used for continuous monitoring and tracking of important targets. However, energy attenuation caused by long-distance radiation transmission reduces imaging contrast and leads to the loss of edge contours and texture details, posing significant challenges to target tracking algorithm design. This paper proposes an infrared small-target tracking method, the UIMM-Tracker, based on the tracking-by-detection (TbD) paradigm. First, detection uncertainty is measured and injected into the multi-model observation noise, transferring the distribution knowledge of the detection process to the tracking process. Second, a dynamic modulation mechanism is introduced into the Markov transition process of multi-model fusion, enabling the tracking model to autonomously adapt to targets with varying maneuvering states. Additionally, detection uncertainty is incorporated into the data association method, and a distance cost matrix between trajectories and detections is constructed based on scale and energy invariance assumptions, improving tracking accuracy. Finally, the proposed method achieves average performance scores of 68.5%, 45.6%, 56.2%, and 0.41 in IDF1, MOTA, HOTA, and precision metrics, respectively, across 20 challenging sequences, outperforming classical methods and demonstrating its effectiveness.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/12/2052infrared target trackinginteractive multiple model (IMM)tracking by detectionuncertainty of detection |
| spellingShingle | Yuanxin Huang Xiyang Zhi Zhichao Xu Wenbin Chen Qichao Han Jianming Hu Yi Sui Wei Zhang UIMM-Tracker: IMM-Based with Uncertainty Detection for Video Satellite Infrared Small-Target Tracking Remote Sensing infrared target tracking interactive multiple model (IMM) tracking by detection uncertainty of detection |
| title | UIMM-Tracker: IMM-Based with Uncertainty Detection for Video Satellite Infrared Small-Target Tracking |
| title_full | UIMM-Tracker: IMM-Based with Uncertainty Detection for Video Satellite Infrared Small-Target Tracking |
| title_fullStr | UIMM-Tracker: IMM-Based with Uncertainty Detection for Video Satellite Infrared Small-Target Tracking |
| title_full_unstemmed | UIMM-Tracker: IMM-Based with Uncertainty Detection for Video Satellite Infrared Small-Target Tracking |
| title_short | UIMM-Tracker: IMM-Based with Uncertainty Detection for Video Satellite Infrared Small-Target Tracking |
| title_sort | uimm tracker imm based with uncertainty detection for video satellite infrared small target tracking |
| topic | infrared target tracking interactive multiple model (IMM) tracking by detection uncertainty of detection |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/17/12/2052 |
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