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Main Authors: Rakhshan, Seyed Ali, Golestani, Mehdi, Kong, He
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.21309
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author Rakhshan, Seyed Ali
Golestani, Mehdi
Kong, He
author_facet Rakhshan, Seyed Ali
Golestani, Mehdi
Kong, He
contents This paper addresses the challenge of assigning heterogeneous sensors (i.e., robots with varying sensing capabilities) for multi-target tracking. We classify robots into two categories: (1) sufficient sensing robots, equipped with range and bearing sensors, capable of independently tracking targets, and (2) limited sensing robots, which are equipped with only range or bearing sensors and need to at least form a pair to collaboratively track a target. Our objective is to optimize tracking quality by minimizing uncertainty in target state estimation through efficient robot-to-target assignment. By leveraging matroid theory, we propose a greedy assignment algorithm that dynamically allocates robots to targets to maximize tracking quality. The algorithm guarantees constant-factor approximation bounds of 1/3 for arbitrary tracking quality functions and 1/2 for submodular functions, while maintaining polynomial-time complexity. Extensive simulations demonstrate the algorithm's effectiveness in accurately estimating and tracking targets over extended periods. Furthermore, numerical results confirm that the algorithm's performance is close to that of the optimal assignment, highlighting its robustness and practical applicability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_21309
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Observability-driven Assignment of Heterogeneous Sensors for Multi-Target Tracking
Rakhshan, Seyed Ali
Golestani, Mehdi
Kong, He
Robotics
This paper addresses the challenge of assigning heterogeneous sensors (i.e., robots with varying sensing capabilities) for multi-target tracking. We classify robots into two categories: (1) sufficient sensing robots, equipped with range and bearing sensors, capable of independently tracking targets, and (2) limited sensing robots, which are equipped with only range or bearing sensors and need to at least form a pair to collaboratively track a target. Our objective is to optimize tracking quality by minimizing uncertainty in target state estimation through efficient robot-to-target assignment. By leveraging matroid theory, we propose a greedy assignment algorithm that dynamically allocates robots to targets to maximize tracking quality. The algorithm guarantees constant-factor approximation bounds of 1/3 for arbitrary tracking quality functions and 1/2 for submodular functions, while maintaining polynomial-time complexity. Extensive simulations demonstrate the algorithm's effectiveness in accurately estimating and tracking targets over extended periods. Furthermore, numerical results confirm that the algorithm's performance is close to that of the optimal assignment, highlighting its robustness and practical applicability.
title Observability-driven Assignment of Heterogeneous Sensors for Multi-Target Tracking
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.21309