Active contour tracking of moving objects using edge flows and ant colony optimization in video sequences

Abstract

Object segmentation and tracking are important techniques in video applications. In this paper, we present a novel system for active contour tracking of moving objects in video sequences. Our method includes preprocessing to identify an initial object contour, and object contour segmentation to refine the contour of the moving object. The edge flows and ant colony optimization are incorporated to improve the efficiency during system convergence. Experimental results demonstrated that our system has achieved the automatic segmentation accuracy of < 1 pixel on average as compared with manual segmentation results. In summary, our system is particularly useful in segmenting and tracking a moving object without constructing a background model for a video scene. Ultimately, our system could be used in object-based video coding or other analysis such as behavior analysis in video surveillance systems. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.