A novel optical flow method based on a second-order non-linear differential equation

A novel optical flow algorithm based on a second-order nonlinear differential equation is presented. This equation expresses the difference between two sequential images, and from its solution, the optical flow information between the images can be extracted. The new algorithm is compared with standard optical flow algorithms, as well as some of their recent generalizations. The comparisons are conducted using common tests applied in particle image velocimetry. The results show that the new algorithm outperforms classical algorithms in these particular tests.