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Video Tracking without LED's
By Brian
Ruth
While LEDs
do provide a very bright color source for tracking, they can also
cause problems. These problems include: tracking LED
reflections, requiring LED mount points and power, camera CCD
saturation, and LED occlusion. Most people don't realize that
reliable position and head direction tracking can be accomplished
without using LEDs. All that is required is some colored
target that can be tracked. In addition to color tracking,
Cheetah can also perform basic contrast tracking without LEDs.
Any object that contains color can be tracked, not just LEDs.
It does not matter what color your background is, as long as
it is not similar to the color you want to track.
Cheetah can also track almost any object as long as it has enough
contrast against the background. However, this type of tracking is
limited in a couple of ways. First, the x,y coordinates of
the tracked object are simply the center of the object. There
is no head direction or full contour tracking of the object.
Second, Cheetah cannot track dark objects on light backgrounds,
only light objects on dark backgrounds. Even in lighted
environments, if there is enough contrast between the object you
wish to track and the rest of the image, Cheetah will be able to
track it.
Color and contrast tracking can provide you with alternatives when
standard LED tracking proves problematic, or when live video
recording is desired. For a more detailed discussion of this
issue, see the white paper: Video Tracking Without LED's. We are always
looking for more new and innovative ways that our customers are
using our products. So, if you have any ideas or suggestions,
please don't hesitate to let us know about them.
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