500-fps Omnidirectional Visual Tracking Using Three-Axis Active Vision System

This study proposes a visual tracking system with 500-fps image processing that can detect and track a fast-moving appearance-varying target in a 360-degree-field of view (FOV) from high-spatial-resolution images. The system consists of a high-speed camera, a pan-tilt Galvano-mirror system, and a mirror-drive high-speed pan control system with 360-degree-rotational capacity. Omnidirectional visual tracking of a remote object using complex visual features becomes possible due to the acquisition of high-spatial-resolution images of the target object via the system. We introduce an intelligent high frame rate (HFR) target-tracking algorithm that can simultaneously detect and track an appearance-varying object against a complex background for high-speed visual feedback control. Furthermore, the proposed surveillance system enables robust visual tracking under low-light conditions using a 3-D light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor system and a simultaneously controlled active spotlight projection system. The effectiveness of the proposed omnidirectional visual tracking system was demonstrated by conducting several omnidirectional detecting and tracking experiments on persons dozens of meters away using a 25-mm focal length lens under both daytime and night-time conditions.