Advancing Frame-Dropping in Multi-Object Tracking-by-Detection Systems Through Event-Based Detection Triggering

With rising computational requirements modern automated vehicles (AVs) often consider trade-offs between energy consumption and perception performance, potentially jeopardizing their safe operation. Frame-dropping in tracking-by-detection perception systems presents a promising approach, although late traffic participant detection might be induced. In this paper, we extend our previous work on frame-dropping in tracking-by-detection perception systems. We introduce an additional event-based triggering mechanism using camera object detections to increase both the system's efficiency, as well as its safety. Evaluating both single and multi-modal tracking methods we show that late object detections are mitigated while the potential for reduced energy consumption is significantly increased, reaching nearly 60 Watt per reduced point in HOTA score.