Object tracking using SIFT and KLT tracker for UAV-based applications

In this paper, we propose a semi-automatic object tracking method based on a Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) tracker. In our approach, the region of interest is specified by the user and then the interest points are detected. The tracker is then used to track the specified object in the consecutive frames. To overcome rapid changes of appearance, occlusion or disappearance from the camera view, we employ a forward-backward error compensation. Experimental results on VIVID dataset indicates that the proposed method has superior overall performance compared to more common methods in the field.