Hi Steve!
We have done some video motion tracking for a tactical surveillance application. A very simple method of motion tracking would be to use a simple pattern match. However, I assume that you are using the Lego Mindstorm toolkit for LabVIEW? I am not sure, if you have a pattern match.vi available there.
You may also look into image correlation, or correlation tracking. Some other common tracking methods are:
- Blob tracking: Segmentation of object interior or block based correlation
- Kernel-based tracking (Mean-shift tracking): An iterative localization procedure based on the maximization of a
similarity measure
- Contour tracking: Detection of object boundary (e.g. active contours or condensation algorithm)
- Visual feature matching using registration
In any case, tracking is not a trivial task, unless the image conditions are ideal. (Black dot on white background or etc.)
Using a pan-tilt setup for tracking you should also consider implementing a PID algorithm. Another thing to consider is that you have to adjust the tracking speed based on the distance of the object to the camera, or based on the field of view or zoom position, if applicable.
I hope this gives you some additional pointers.
Kind Regards,
Markus Tarin