Continuous global evidence-based Bayesian modality fusion for simultaneous tracking of multiple objects

Robust, real-time tracking of objects from visual data requires probabilistic fusion of multiple visual cues. Previous approaches have either been ad hoc or relied on a Bayesian network with discrete spatial variables which suffers from discretisation and computational complexity problems. We present a new Bayesian modality fusion network that uses continuous domain variables. The network architecture distinguishes between cues that are necessary or unnecessary for the object´s presence. Computationally expensive and inexpensive modalities are also handled differently to minimise cost. The method provides a formal, tractable and robust probabilistic method for simultaneously tracking multiple objects. While instantaneous inference is exact, approximation is required for propagation over time