Implementation of the phase correlation algorithm : motion estimation in the frequency domain

In a practical training for the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology, a literature search to the past developments concerning the Phase Correlation algorithm was carried out and the algorithm was implemented. The Phase Correlation algorithm is a method for measuring the motion in a video sequence, based on the Fourier shift theorem. It was found that an enhanced implementation of the Phase Correlation algorithm gives very good results, comparable to the results of 3-D Recursive Search (a popular method for motion estimation in consumer electronics equipment). The estimated motion vectors have a close relation to the true motion in a scene, which makes this algorithm very suitable for video format conversion. It is concluded that Phase Correlation and 3-D Recursive Search, together with object based motion estimation, are the best methods for motion estimation currently available.