Abstract

In this thesis, the Recursive-Random Sample Consensus (R-RANSAC) multiple target tracking (MTT) algorithm is further developed and applied to video taken from static platforms. Development of R-RANSAC is primarily focused in three areas: data association, the ability to track maneuvering objects, and track management. The probabilistic data association (PDA) filter performs very well in the R-RANSAC framework and adds minimal computation cost over less sophisticated methods. The interacting multiple models (IMM) filter as well as higher-order linear models are incorporated into R-RANSAC to improve tracking of highly maneuverable targets. An effective track labeling system, a more intuitive track merging criteria, and other improvements were made to the track management system of R-RANSAC. R-RANSAC is shown to be a modular algorithm capable of incorporating the best features of competing MTT algorithms. A comprehensive comparison with the Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density (GM-PHD) filter was conducted using pseudo-aerial videos of vehicles and pedestrians. R-RANSAC maintains superior track continuity, especially in cases of interacting and occluded targets, and has fewer missed detections when compared with the GM-PHD filter. The two algorithms perform similarly in terms of the number of false positives and tracking precision. The concept of a feedback loop between the tracker and sensor processing modules is extensively explored; the output tracks from R-RANSAC are used to inform how video processing is performed. We are able to indefinitely detect stationary objects by zeroing out the background update rate of target-associated pixels in a Gaussian mixture models (GMM) foreground detector. False positive foreground detections are eliminated with a minimum blob area threshold, a ghost suppression algorithm, and judicious tuning of the R-RANSAC parameters. The ability to detect stationary targets also allows R-RANSAC to be applied to a class of problems known as stationary object detection. Additionally, moving camera foreground detection techniques are applied to the static camera case in order to produce measurements with a velocity component; this is accomplished by using sequential-RANSAC to cluster optical flow vectors of FAST feature pairs. This further improves R-RANSAC's track continuity, especially with interacting targets. Finally, a hybrid algorithm composed of R-RANSAC and the Sequence Model (SM), a machine learner, is presented. The SM learns sequences of target locations and is able to assist in data association once properly trained. In simulation, we demonstrate the SM's ability to significantly improve tracking performance in situations with infrequent measurement updates and a high proportion of clutter measurements.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Mechanical Engineering

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2015-03-01

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd7561

Keywords

multiple target tracking, computer vision, foreground detection, machine learning

Language

english

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