A modular architecture for object tracking and migration in self-organizing, distributed systems

Object tracking in networked systems is a widely used scenario to assess newly designed methods in the field of association and estimation. This is mainly due to a great interest in object tracking applications. Current research is focused on designing dedicated tracking algorithms suitable for a particular setup of a tracking system. As a result certain choices in software design are taken implicitly, resulting in dedicated functions for which comparing and adapting the algorithm requires a significant effort. In contrast this paper describes a modular software-architecture suitable for all object tracking methods in self-organizing, networked systems. This modular architecture not only enables a designer the freedom of choice for the different tracking methodologies but it also provides the ability to re-upload parts of the algorithm or even adapt the on-line algorithm to the situation at hand. The designed architecture is demonstrated on a real-life tracking application. © 2009 IFAC.