Automatic Detection and Tracking of Objects of Interest in Video Data with Global Motion

Introduction. At present, automatic capture and tracking of moving objects in video data obtained by a video camera mounted on a mobile carrier represents a relevant research task. Its successful solution is challenged by such factors, as a non-uniform background, object overlapping between one another and the background, significant and rapid changes in the size of the object of interest, abrupt changes in the movement trajectory of the mobile carrier. Aim. To develop an automatic method for detecting moving objects followed by their tracking in video data obtained under difficult observation conditions. An additional requirement imposed on the tracking stage consists in the restriction of computing resources. Materials and methods . The method is based on a convolutional neural network with a YOLO architecture. Due to the restriction of computing resources, object tracking is implemented without neural network solutions. In order to ensure stable tracking, several detectors are used simultaneously with the subsequent analysis of the data obtained. The tracking stage involves a detector based on histograms of oriented gradients (HOG), supplemented by a detector based on correlation filtering and motion trajectory prediction based on the Kalman filter. Results. At the automatic detection stage, the TPR, averaged over all video files participating in the experiments, was equal to 0.81, with the FPR corresponding to 0.10. At the tracking stage, the failure rate (tracking failures) was 6·10 –5 . Conclusion. The proposed method can be successfully used to detect and track objects at a distance of 1500 m with an object projection size on the frame of 5 × 5 pixels under the conditions of global motion, a non-uniform background, and significant changes in the properties of the object of interest.