Dual camera mechatronic tracking system

Abstract

A mechatronic vision system for the automatic acquisition and the monitoring of the static and the moving objects is proposed. The system recognizes the existence and the motion of relatively small objects from the background in order to report motion parameters while automatically tracking the selected object. The system consists of several relatively independent subsystems cooperating together with the aim to achieve the common goal to recognize objects of interest and to track their motion. The simultaneous tracking by the two cameras is used to measure the instant distance of the tracked object. The combination of an automatic recognition subsystem with an automatic object motion prediction and the dual camera orientation control facilitates the ability of the whole system to work autonomously in a real time. The system is designed in a modular way to enable simple adaptation to several static and mobile cameras mechanically oriented in space by the pan and tilt head. The open architecture of the system allows group management integration, day and night image processing, and various problem oriented geometric computation.