Wide area tracking system using three active zoom cameras

Abstract

Tracking objects at a distance is a problem in wide area surveillance. This paper introduces a realtime active vision system that can track a moving object from 1 to 200 meters. This visual servo system is mainly structured with three mechanical freedoms: pan, tilt and zoom. An eagle eye mechanism is proposed to obtain a wide field of view and high resolution on the target. A fusion scheme has also been developed that combines the results of the three separate zoom cameras to detect and track remote targets. A high performance pan-tilt unit and an algorithm of high frequency motor control are proposed to achieve smooth tracking. The experiments of tracking a person walking outdoors and indoors have been carried out. The results show that this system is valid for tracking in a wide area.