Modular Tracking Framework: A Unified Approach to Registration based Tracking
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This paper presents a modular, extensible and highly efficient open source framework for registration based tracking targeted at robotics applications. It is implemented entirely in C++ and is designed from the ground up to easily integrate with systems that support any of several major vision and robotics libraries including OpenCV, ROS, ViSP and Eigen. It is also faster and more precise than other existing systems. To establish the theoretical basis for its design, a new way to conceptualize registration based trackers is introduced that decomposes them into three constituent sub modules - Search Method, Appearance Model and State Space Model. In the process, the seminal work by Baker & Matthews is extended with several important advances since its publication. In addition to being a practical solution for fast and high precision tracking, this system can also serve as a useful research tool by allowing existing and new methods for any of the sub modules to be studied better. When a new method is introduced for one of these, the breakdown can help to experimentally find the combination of methods for the others that is optimum for it. By extensive use of generic programming, the system makes it easy to plug in a new method for any of the sub modules so that it can not only be tested comprehensively with existing methods but also become immediately available for deployment in any project that uses the framework.
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