Adaptive Method for Optical Tracking of Maneuvering Aerial Objects Under Limited Computational Resources

This paper addresses the urgent scientific and applied problem of automatic tracking of highly maneuverable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) using systems based on platforms with limited computing power (Edge Computing). The paper analyzes the shortcomings of classical correlation trackers and detectors based on deep neural networks when tracking targets with non-linear trajectories. A hybrid tracking method is proposed, combining the speed of a Kernelized Correlation Filter (KCF) and the accuracy of a neural network detector (YOLO11s). A key feature of the method is the developed algorithm for adaptive Kalman Filter correction, which utilizes a dynamic, scale-invariant Prediction Error metric as a trigger for motion anomaly detection. This allows the system to distinguish between measurement noise and sharp target maneuvers, executing an adaptive state reset using finite differences only at critical moments. Experimental validation on edge hardware (Raspberry Pi 5) using highly dynamic video sequences from the UAV123 and VisDrone datasets demonstrated that the proposed approach maintains an average processing speed of 18.89 FPS. By limiting deep neural network invocations to merely 2.71% of total frames, the algorithm successfully curtails thermal throttling while achieving a global Mean Root Square Error (RMSE) of 259.10 pixels across highly erratic trajectories. The method ensures high tracking reliability without a critical increase in computational load, making it highly suitable for use in autonomous embedded systems.