Detection and tracking of moving objects at intersections using a network of laser scanners

In our previous work, we reported a system that monitors an intersection using a network of horizontal laser scanners. This paper focuses on an algorithm for moving-object detection and tracking, given a sequence of distributed laser scan data of an intersection. The goal is to detect each moving object that enters the intersection; estimate state parameters such as size; and track its location, speed, and direction while it passes through the intersection. This work is unique, to the best of the authors' knowledge, in that the data is novel, which provides new possibilities but with great challenges; the algorithm is the first proposal that uses such data in detecting and tracking all moving objects that pass through a large crowded intersection with focus on achieving robustness to partial observations, some of which result from occlusions, and on performing correct data associations in crowded situations. Promising results are demonstrated using experimental data from real intersections, whereby, for 1063 objects moving through an intersection over 20 min, 988 are perfectly tracked from entrance to exit with an excellent tracking ratio of 92.9%. System advantages, limitations, and future work are discussed.