Andrea Prati

Detecting moving objects, ghosts, and shadows in video streams

Background subtraction methods are widely exploited for moving object detection in videos in many applications, such as traffic monitoring, human motion capture, and video surveillance. How to correctly and efficiently model and update the background model and how to deal with shadows are two of the most distinguishing and challenging aspects of such approaches. The article proposes a general-purpose method that combines statistical assumptions with the object-level knowledge of moving objects, apparent objects (ghosts), and shadows acquired in the processing of the previous frames. Pixels belonging to moving objects, ghosts, and shadows are processed differently in order to supply an object-based selective update. The proposed approach exploits color information for both background subtraction and shadow detection to improve object segmentation and background update. The approach proves fast, flexible, and precise in terms of both pixel accuracy and reactivity to background changes.

Improving shadow suppression in moving object detection with HSV color information

Video-surveillance and traffic analysis systems can be heavily improved using vision-based techniques able to extract, manage and track objects in the scene. However, problems arise due to shadows. In particular, moving shadows can affect the correct localization, measurements and detection of moving objects. This work aims to present a technique for shadow detection and suppression used in a system for moving visual object detection and tracking. The major novelty of the shadow detection technique is the analysis carried out in the HSV color space to improve the accuracy in detecting shadows. Signal processing and optic motivations of the approach proposed are described. The integration and exploitation of the shadow detection module into the system are outlined and experimental results are shown and evaluated.

Probabilistic posture classification for Human-behavior analysis

Computer vision and ubiquitous multimedia access nowadays make feasible the development of a mostly automated system for human-behavior analysis. In this context, our proposal is to analyze human behaviors by classifying the posture of the monitored person and, consequently, detecting corresponding events and alarm situations, like a fall. To this aim, our approach can be divided in two phases: for each frame, the projection histograms (Haritaoglu et al., 1998) of each person are computed and compared with the probabilistic projection maps stored for each posture during the training phase; then, the obtained posture is further validated exploiting the information extracted by a tracking module in order to take into account the reliability of the classification of the first phase. Moreover, the tracking algorithm is used to handle occlusions, making the system particularly robust even in indoors environments. Extensive experimental results demonstrate a promising average accuracy of more than 95% in correctly classifying human postures, even in the case of challenging conditions.

Detecting objects, shadows and ghosts in video streams by exploiting color and motion information

Many approaches to moving object detection for traffic monitoring and video surveillance proposed in the literature are based on background suppression methods. How to correctly and efficiently update the background model and how to deal with shadows are two of the more distinguishing and challenging features of such approaches. This work presents a general-purpose method for segmentation of moving visual objects (MVO) based on an object-level classification in MVO, ghosts and shadows. Background suppression needs the background model to be estimated and updated: we use motion and shadow information to selectively exclude from the background model MVO and their shadows, while retaining ghosts. The color information (in the HSV color space) is exploited to shadow suppression and, consequently, to enhance both MVO segmentation and background update.

Shadow detection algorithms for traffic flow analysis: a comparative study

Shadow detection is critical for robust and reliable vision-based systems for traffic flow analysis. In this paper we discuss various shadow detection approaches and compare two critically. The goal of these algorithms is to prevent moving shadows being misclassified as moving objects (or parts of them), thus avoiding the merging of two or more objects into one and improving the accuracy of object localization. The environment considered is an outdoor highway scene with multiple lanes observed by a single fixed camera. The important features of shadow detection algorithms and the parameter set-up are analyzed and discussed. A critical evaluation of the results both in terms of accuracy and in terms of computational complexity are outlined. Finally, possible integration of the two approaches into a robust shadow detector is presented as future direction of our research.

Analysis and detection of shadows in video streams: a comparative evaluation

Robustness to changes in illumination conditions as well as viewing perspectives is an important requirement for many computer vision applications. One of the key factors in enhancing the robustness of dynamic scene analysis is that of accurate and reliable means for shadow detection. Shadow detection is critical for correct object detection in image sequences. Many algorithms have been proposed in the literature that deal with shadows. However, a comparative evaluation of the existing approaches is still lacking. In this paper, the full range of problems underlying the shadow detection is identified and discussed. We classify the proposed solutions to this problem using a taxonomy of four main classes, deterministic model and non-model based, and statistical parametric and nonparametric. Novel quantitative (detection and discrimination accuracy) and qualitative metrics (scene and object independence, flexibility to shadow situations and robustness to noise) are proposed to evaluate these classes of algorithms on a benchmark suite of indoor and outdoor video sequences.

The Sakbot System for Moving Object Detection and Tracking

This paper presents Sakbot, a system for moving object detection in traffic monitoring and video surveillance applications. The system is endowed with robust and efficient detection techniques, which main features are the statistical and knowledge-based background update and the use of HSV color information for shadow suppression. Tracking is provided by a symbolic reasoning module allowing flexible object tracking over a variety of different applications. This system proves effective on many different situations, both from the point of view of the scene appearance and the purpose of the application.

A 28-Gb/s 4-Tap FFE/15-Tap DFE Serial Link Transceiver in 32-nm SOI CMOS Technology

As exemplified by standards such as OIF CEI-25G, 32G-FC, and next-generation 100GbE, serial link data rates are being pushed up to 25 to 28Gb/s in order to increase I/O system bandwidth. Such speeds represent a near doubling of the state-of-the-art for fully integrated transceivers [1-3]. With scaling no longer providing large gains in device speed, significant design advances must be made to attain these data rates. This paper describes a 28Gb/s serial link transceiver featuring a source-series terminated (SST) driver topology with twice the speed of existing designs, a two-stage peaking amplifier with capacitively-coupled parallel input stages and active feedback, and a 15-tap DFE. The use of capacitive level-shifters allows a single current-integrating summer to drive the parallel paths used for speculating the first two DFE taps.

Statistic and knowledge-based moving object detection in traffic scenes

The most common approach used for vision-based traffic surveillance consists of a fast segmentation of moving visual objects (MVOs) in the scene together with an intelligent reasoning module capable of identifying, tracking and classifying the MVOs in dependency of the system goal. In this paper we describe our approach for MVOs segmentation in an unstructured traffic environment. We consider complex situations with moving people, vehicles and infrastructures that have different aspect model and motion model. In this case we define a specific approach based on background subtraction with statistic and knowledge-based background update. We show many results of real-time tracking of traffic MVOs in outdoor traffic scene such as roads, parking area intersections, and entrance with barriers.

Video Streaming for Mobile Video Surveillance

Mobile video surveillance represents a new paradigm that encompasses, on the one side, ubiquitous video acquisition and, on the other side, ubiquitous video processing and viewing, addressing both computer-based and human-based surveillance. To this aim, systems must provide efficient video streaming with low latency and low frame skipping, even over limited bandwidth networks. This work presents MoSES (MObile Streaming for vidEo Surveillance), an effective system for mobile video surveillance for both PC and PDA clients; it relies over H.264/AVC video coding and GPRS/EDGE-GPRS network. Adaptive control algorithms are employed to achieve the best tradeoff between low latency and good video fluidity. MoSES provides a good-quality video streaming that is used as input to computer-based video surveillance applications for people segmentation and tracking. In this paper new and general-purpose methodologies for streaming performance evaluation are also proposed and used to compare MoSES with existing solutions in terms of different parameters (latency, image quality, video fluidity, and frame losses), as well as in terms of performance in people segmentation and tracking.