Object Tracking using Joint Visible and Thermal Infrared Video Sequences Internal report

Particle filter methods based on color distribution can be used to track non-rigid moving objects in color videos. They are robust in case of noise or partial occlusions. However, using particle filters on color videos is sensitive to changes in the lighting conditions of the scene. The use of thermal infrared image sequences can help the tracking process, as thermal infrared imagery is not sensitive to lighting conditions. This paper presents a particle filter based method for object tracking using automatic cooperation between the color and the infrared modalities. As the infrared and the visible image sequences are acquired with different cameras, a pre-step is spatio-temporal registration. After spatio-temporal registration, the proposed method is able to continuously track the target despite difficult conditions appearing in one of the modality. Our cooperative tracking method is successfully applied on several experimental datasets. Different test sequences are presented, including tracking in the visible video with the help of the infrared modality, or tracking in the infrared with the help of the visible modality. Comments and future prospects raised by this method are finally described. keywords: tracking, particle filtering, thermal infrared, color distribution, image sequences ha l-0 03 98 48 8, v er si on 1 24 J un 2 00 9