Hue-saturation-value feature analysis for robust ground moving target tracking in color aerial video

ABSTRACT Ground moving target tracking in aerial video presents a difficult algorithmic challenge due to sensor platform motion, non-uniform scene illumination, and other extended operating conditions. Theoretically, trackers which operate on color video should have improved performance vs. monochromatic trackers by leveraging the additional intensity channels. In this work, ground moving targets in color video are characterized in the Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV) color space. Using segmented real aerial video, HSV statistics are measured for multiple vehicle and background types and evaluated for separability and invariance to illumination change, obscuration, and aspect change. HSV statistics are then calculated for moving targets from the same video segmented with existing color tracking algorithms to determine HSV feature robustness to noisy segmentation