Two-layer Tracking for Occlusion Handling and Inter-sensor Identification in Multiple Depth Sensors-based Object Detection and Tracking

The main challenge in depth-based object detection and tracking process is to provide correct identification of the detected objects during occlusion. This is because the information necessary to distinguish and consequently identify the objects throughout the occlusion events are limited, compared to conventional, color-based object tracking. In this paper we propose a two-layer tracking method that enables automatic occlusion handling and inter-sensor identification for object detection and tracking that utilizes more than one depth sensor. On the first layer, the tracking is first performed independently for each sensor to extract objects' feature and perform initial tracking with separation of the occluded objects. On the second layer, the tracking is performed in the perspective projection of the objects tracked on the first layer that are combined in a single processing plane to provide correct identification of the objects that are detected in one sensor to another. Experiment results show that the proposed method can correctly identified occluded objects and objects that are moving between sensors coverage area.