Learning and exploiting invariants for multi-target tracking and data association

Methods for solving multi target tracking and data association problems in presence of clutter and occlusions are based on models that describe the target dynamics and the measurements statistics. Most often the dynamics of the targets are assumed to be independent from each other. In many applications, however, the motion of the targets may be coordinated. We introduce a statistical concept of shape, or coordination, in terms of invariants w.r.t. the motion of the targets. Assuming that the rules of coordination may slowly change over time, we study the interplay among the shape and the target dynamics.