IDENTIFYING, LOCATING AND TRACKING OBJECTS BY DETECTING PRE-AFFIXED COLORED TARGETS

AMERICAN INNOVISION PROPOSES TO MEET THE SENSING AND PERCEPTION REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION 5.01 WITH A NOVEL COMBINATION OF TRACKING TARGETS, HARDWARE AND ALGORITHMS WHICH WOULD SIMULTANEOUSLY IDENTIFY, LOCATE AND TRACK MANY OBJECTS VIEWED BY A PAIR OF COLOR VIDEO CAMERAS. THE KEY INNOVATION IS THE USE OF PRE-AFFIXED MULTI-COLORED TRACKING TARGETS, AND A HARDWARE PREPROCESSOR FOR RAPIDLY IDENTIFYING THEM UNDER VARIABLE ILLUMINATION. COMPARED WITHALTERNATE TECHNOLOGIES THIS SYSTEM OFFERS THE FOLLOWING FOURADVANTAGES. FIRST, HIGH CAPACITY: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF OBJECTS COULD BE IDENTIFIED AND DOZENS TRACKED SIMULTANEOUSLY. SECOND, HIGH SPEED: THE IDENTIFICATION, LOCATION AND THREE-AXIS ORIENTATION OF DOZENS OF OBJECTS COULD BE DERIVED EVERY 60TH OF A SECOND. THIRD, EASE OF PROGRAMMING: THE PROPOSED DESIGN IS INHERENTLY SELF-TEACHING. FINALLY, LOW COST: THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WOULDREQUIRE TWO LOW-COST COLOR CAMERAS AND ONE BOARD BUILT WITH OFF-THE-SHELF LSI AND VLSI COMPONENTS. THE ANTICIPATED POSITIONAL ACCURACY IS PLUS OR MINUS SEVERAL MILLIMETERS AT A RANGE OF 10 METERS. IN PHASE I WE PROPOSE TO BUILD AND TEST A PROTOTYPE WHICH HAS ALL THE CAPABILITIES OF THE FINAL SYSTEM EXCEPT REAL-TIME TRACKING.