Systems and methods for radar false track mitigation with camera

1. A method for operating a radar system, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, point cloud information;

generating, by a processor, a radar track initializer using the point cloud information;

determining, by a processor, whether the radar track initializer includes false information based on a distance between the radar track initializer and at least one camera segment;

generating, by a processor, a radar track for a detected object when a determination is made that the radar track initializer does not include false information; and

using, by a processor, the radar track to control operations of a vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising discarding the radar track initializer when a determination is made that the radar track initializer includes false information.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising computing a distance from the radar track initializer to a known location of the vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising comparing the distance to a threshold value.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the determining is performed when the distance is equal to or less than the threshold value.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining comprises:

determining a first position of the radar track initializer at an image capture time;

converting the first position from a sensor frame format to a world frame format to obtain a second position; and

projecting the second position to a camera frame.

7. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising using the projected second position to determine a distance between the radar track initializer and each of a plurality of camera segments.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising selecting a camera segment from the plurality of camera segments that is closest to the radar track initializer.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising determining whether a distance between the radar track initializer and the selected camera segment is greater than a threshold value.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising concluding that the radar track initializer contains false information when the distance is greater than the threshold value.

11. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising programming instructions that are configured to cause the processor to implement a method for operating a radar system, wherein the programming instructions comprise instructions to:

receive point cloud information;

generate a radar track initializer using the point cloud information;

determine whether the radar track initializer includes false information based on a distance between the radar track initializer and at least one camera segment;

generate a radar track for a detected object when a determination is made that the radar track initializer does not include false information; and

use the radar track to control operations of a vehicle.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the programming instructions further comprise instructions to discard the radar track initializer when a determination is made that the radar track initializer includes false information.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the programming instructions further comprise instructions to compute a distance from the radar track initializer to a known location of the vehicle.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the determination as to whether the radar track initializer includes false information is made when the distance is equal to or less than a threshold value.

15. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the determination as to whether the radar track initializer includes false information is made by:

determining a first position of the radar track initializer at an image capture time;

converting the first position from a sensor frame format to a world frame format to obtain a second position; and

projecting the second position to a camera frame.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the projected second position is used to determine a distance between the radar track initializer and each of a plurality of camera segments.

17. The system according to claim 16 , wherein a camera segment is selected from the plurality of camera segments that is closest to the radar track initializer.

18. The system according to claim 17 , wherein a determination is made as to whether a distance between the radar track initializer and the selected camera segment is greater than a threshold value.

19. The system according to claim 18 , wherein a conclusion is made that the radar track initializer contains false information when the distance is greater than the threshold value.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device, will cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving point cloud information;

generating a radar track initializer using the point cloud information;

determining whether the radar track initializer includes false information based on a distance between the radar track initializer and at least one camera segment;

generating a radar track for a detected object when a determination is made that the radar track initializer does not include false information; and

using the radar track to control operations of a vehicle.