Skip to main content
Contact Us
AI VISION · BASICS

What Is Object Tracking?

Object tracking is a computer vision task that follows an object from one video frame to the next, keeping track of where it is and where it is going. Detection finds objects in each frame; tracking links those detections over time, so a system can follow a person, vehicle or drone and act on its movement.

01

The Short Answer

Single object tracking keeps a lock on one target an operator selects, which suits steering a PTZ camera or a gimbal. Multi-object tracking gives every person or vehicle in view its own ID, which suits counting, traffic analysis and autonomous vehicles. Both have to cope with targets that turn, change size or disappear behind something.

  • //
    Occlusion Targets pass behind other objects and must be picked up again.
  • //
    Image quality Heat haze, fog and low light degrade the picture.
  • //
    Platform movement Cameras on vehicles or masts move as well as the target.
  • //
    Latency Video has to be captured and processed fast enough to keep the lock.
02

Why It Matters

Tracking at the edge needs low-latency video capture and enough AI processing on the platform. Our object tracking case study runs a deep learning tracker on a rugged Jetson computer, and our video analytics FAQ puts tracking in context. See our rugged Jetson computers.