A 2D/3D model-based object tracking framework

Abstract

This paper presents a robust framework for tracking complex objects in video sequences. Multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) algorithm reported in (IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 18(2) (1996)) is modified to accommodate a high level representations (2D edge map, 3D models) of objects for tracking. The framework exploits the advantages of MHT algorithm which is capable of resolving data association/uncertainty and integrates it with object matching techniques to provide a robust behavior while tracking complex objects. To track objects in 2D, a 4D feature is used to represent edge/line segments and are tracked using MHT. In many practical applications 3D models provide more information about the object's pose (i.e., rotation information in the transformation space) which cannot be recovered using 2D edge information. Hence, a 3D model-based object tracking algorithm is also presented. A probabilistic Hausdorff image matching algorithm is incorporated into the framework in order to determine the geometric transformation that best maps the model features onto their corresponding ones in the image plane. 3D model of the object is used to constrain the tracker to operate in a consistent manner. Experimental results on real and synthetic image sequences are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed framework.