Robust object tracking based on weighted subspace reconstruction error with forward: backward tracking criterion

Abstract

It is a challenging task to develop an effective and robust object tracking method due to factors such as severe occlusion, background clutters, abrupt motion, illumination variation, and so on. A tracking algorithm based on weighted subspace reconstruction error is proposed. The discriminative weights are defined based on minimizing reconstruction error with a positive dictionary while maximizing reconstruction error with a negative dictionary. Then a confidence map for candidates is computed through the subspace reconstruction error. Finally, the location of the target object is estimated by maximizing the decision map which combines the discriminative weights and subspace reconstruction error. Furthermore, the new evaluation method based on a forward–backward tracking criterion is used to verify the proposed method and demonstrates its robustness in the updating stage and its effectiveness in the reduction of accumulated errors. Experimental results on 12 challenging video sequences show that the proposed algorithm performs favorably against 12 state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy and robustness.