Simultaneous object tracking and depth estimation using color shifting property of a multiple color-filter aperture camera

A multiple color-filter aperture (MCA) camera can provide depth information as well as color and intensity in the single-camera framework, where the MCA generates misalignment between color channels depending on the distance of a region-of-interest. In this paper, we present a simultaneous object tracking and depth estimation approach based on the color shifting property of an MCA camera. An object region is first extracted by using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling-based particle filter. The extracted object´s region has color misalignment among RGB planes depending on the distance of the object. We estimate color shifting vectors (CSVs) between green-and-red (G-R) and green-and-blue (G-B) channels using a simplified elastic registration algorithm. Using the color shifting property of the MCA camera, the depth of the object´s region is estimated from CSVs. From experimental results, we can show the MCA camera-based surveillance system can estimate depth information as well as track object.