Case File2020–2022
UAV Visual Tracking & Localization
NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR
Challenge, contribution, and outcome
CHALLENGE
CAIR needed real-time UAV detection, tracking, and cooperative localization pipelines that could survive live arena flights.
MY CONTRIBUTION
System integration and experimental development across the CAIR UAV perception thread — arena instrumentation, RGB-T PTZ pipelines, and field validation that underpins six peer-reviewed papers (2020–2022).
OUTCOME
Integrated and flight-tested the RGB-T arena stack underpinning six peer-reviewed papers (2020–2022).
Narrative
Multi-paper research thread on detecting, tracking, and relatively localizing UAVs in real time — from airborne PTZ visual lock and cooperative spherical localization through RGB-thermal fusion and deep-learning / Siamese aerial trackers, validated on live flights in the Kinesis arena.
System Record
- Application
- APPCounter-UAS
- Period
- 2020–2022
Development & Validation
- Thread opens with airborne PTZ visual tracking and relative visual localization for cooperative UAS, then layers computationally efficient RGB-thermal detection so thermal cues pull small drones out of clutter while RGB refines boxes at frame rate.
- Deep-learning evader pursuit and a Siamese adaptive transformer tracker extend the same arena stack to agile targets; relative spherical-visual localization closes the loop for multi-UAV cooperative localization.
- Flagship RGB-T detection and tracking demo integrated and flight-tested inside NYUAD's netted Kinesis arena with pan-tilt-zoom camera coverage — evidence spans six peer-reviewed outputs plus the live arena video.
Credits & Collaborators
Nikolaos Giakoumidis
NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR
System integration · Co-author
Anthony Tzes
NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR
Principal Investigator
Athanasios Tsoukalas
NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR
Co-author
Nikolaos Evangeliou
NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR
Co-author
Dengqing Xing
NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR
Co-author
Scott Holter
NYU Abu Dhabi · CAIR
Co-author
Evidence
video
Related
Publications
- Airborne Visual Tracking of UAVs with a Pan-Tilt-Zoom Camera
ROBOVIS, 90–97 · 2020
- Relative visual localization for unmanned aerial systems
arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.01954 · 2020
- Computationally efficient RGB-t UAV detection and tracking system
2021 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), 1410–1415 · 2021
- Deep learning assisted visual tracking of evader-UAV
2021 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), 252–257 · 2021
- Relative Spherical-Visual Localization for Cooperative Unmanned Aerial Systems
2021 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), 371–376 · 2021
- Siamese adaptive transformer network for real-time aerial tracking
2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), 570–575 · 2022