A Nonparametric Approach to Foreground Detection in Dynamic Backgrounds

Foreground detection is a fundamental step in visual surveillance.However,accurate foreground detection is still a challenging task especially in dynamic backgrounds.In this paper,we present a nonparametric approach to foreground detection in dynamic backgrounds.It uses a history of recently pixel values to estimate background model.Besides,the adaptive threshold and spatial coherence are introduced to enhance robustness against false detections.Experimental results indicate that our approach achieves better performance in dynamic backgrounds compared with several approaches.

Foreground Detection Based on Nonlinear Independent Component Analysis

Motionless foreground objects are key targets in applications of home care monitoring and abandoned object detection, and pose a great challenge to foreground detection. Most algorithms incorporate the motionless foreground objects into their background models because they have to adapt to environmental changes. To overcome this challenge, a foreground detection method based on nonlinear independent component analysis （ICA） was proposed. Considering that each video frame was actually a nonlinear mixture of the background image and the foreground image, the nonlinear ICA was employed to accurately separate the independent components from each frame. Then, the entropy of grayscale image was calculated to classify which resulting independent component was the foreground image. The proposed nonlinear ICA model was trained offiine and this model was not updated online, so the method can cope with the motionless foreground objects. Experimental results demonstrate that, the method achieves remarkable results and outperforms several advanced methods in dealing with the motionless foreground objects.

Adaptive Contour Model for Real-Time Foreground Detection

A multiscale foreground detection method was developed to segment moving objects from a sta- tionary background. The algorithm is based on a fixed-mesh-based contour model, which starts at the bounding box of the difference map between an input image and its background and ends at a final contour. An adaptive algorithm was developed to calculate an appropriate energy threshold to control the contours to identify the foreground silhouettes. Experiments show that this method more successfully ignores the nega- tive influence of image noise to obtain an accurate foreground map than other foreground detection algo- rithms. Most shadow pixels are also eliminated by this method.

A Parameter-Detection Algorithm for Moving Ships

In traffic-monitoring systems, numerous vision-based approaches have been used to detect vehicle parameters. However, few of these approaches have been used in waterway transport because of the complexity created by factors such as rippling water and lack of calibration object. In this paper, we present an approach to detecting the parameters of a moving ship in an inland river. This approach involves interactive calibration without a calibration reference. We detect a moving ship using an optimized visual foreground detection algorithm that eliminates false detection in dynamic water scenarios, and we detect ship length, width, speed, and flow. We trialed our parameter-detection technique in the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and found that detection accuracy was greater than 90% for all parameters.

Crowdedness estimation approach based on stereovision for bus passengers

An estimation approach is proposed in this paper based on the binocular stereovision to collect the degree of crowdedness in public transports. The proposed method combines the disparity with frame differences to extract the foreground object. An adaptive window normalized cross correlation （NCC） matching and interpolated method is applied to get the sub-pixel image disparity value. Then, the foreground object is projected to the horizontal plane to eliminate the influence of the occlusion and perspective effect. Finally the degree of crowdedness is calculated from the area and the perimeter of the foreground objects. Experimental results show that the proposed method can obtain good estimation results in the simulated scenes in the laboratory and on parking or moving buses. This approach is effective to illumination changes, shadows and occlusion of passengers.