Application of L-K Optical Flow Algorithm Mixed with Pyramid on Calculating Water Surface Flow Field

Abstract

A classical Lucas-Kanade optical flow algorithm was used to analysis the IR Image sequence of the wind-driven surface in this paper. Gaussian pyramid representation was introduced to retain both detail components and veracity for velocity field when considering the aperture problem and robustness. Three layers of pyramid for L-K optical flow is the best comparing with other layers (from one to four) in property. L-K optical flow algorithm mixed with pyramid representation shown an qualified power on calculating water surface flow field, demonstrated by optical flow fields on different wind speeds ( from 3m/s to 6m/s).