Behavior Analysis Using a Multilevel Motion Pattern Learning Framework

Abstract

The increasing availability of video data, through existing traffic cameras or dedicated field data collection, and the development of computer vision techniques pave the way for the collection of massive data sets about the microscopic behavior of road users. Analysis of such data sets helps in understanding normal road user behavior and can be used for realistic prediction of motion and computation of surrogate safety indicators. A multilevel motion pattern learning framework was developed to enable automated scene interpretation, anomalous behavior detection, and surrogate safety analysis. First, points of interest (POIs) were learned on the basis of the Gaussian mixture model and the expectation maximization algorithm and then used to form activity paths (APs). Second, motion patterns, represented by trajectory prototypes, were learned from road users' trajectories in each AP by using a two-stage trajectory clustering method based on spatial then temporal (speed) information. Finally, motion prediction relied on matching at each instant partial trajectories to the learned prototypes to evaluate potential for collision by using computing indicators. An intersection case study demonstrates the framework's ability in many ways: it helps reduce the computation cost up to 90%; it cleans the trajectory data set from tracking outliers; it uses actual trajectories as prototypes without any pre- and postprocessing; and it predicts future motion realistically to compute surrogate safety indicators.