Trackez: An IoT-Based 3D-Object Tracking From 2D Pixel Matrix Using Mez and FSL Algorithm

Abstract

The imaging devices sense light reflected from objects and reconstruct images using the 2D-sensor matrix. It is a 2D Cartesian coordinate system where the depth dimension is absent. The absence of a depth axis on 2D images imposes challenges in locating and tracking objects in a 3D environment. Real-time object tracking faces another challenge imposed by network latency. This paper presents the development and analysis of a real-time, real-world object tracker called Trackez, which is capable of tracking within the top hemisphere. It uses Machine Vision at the IoT Edge (Mez) technology to mitigate latency sensitivity. A novel algorithm, Follow-Satisfy-Loop (FSL), has been developed and implemented in this paper that optimally tracks the target. It does not require the depth-axis. The simple and innovative design and incorporation of Mez technology have made the proposed object tracker a latency-insensitive, Z-axis-independent, and effective system. The Trackez reduces the average latency by 85.08% and improves the average accuracy by 81.71%. The object tracker accurately tracks objects moving in regular and irregular patterns at up to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5.4ft/s$ </tex-math></inline-formula> speed. This accurate, latency tolerant, and Z-axis independent tracking system contributes to developing a better robotics system that requires object tracking.