A MACH Filter-Based Reconstruction-Free Target Detector and Tracker for Compressive Sensing Cameras

Compressive sensing cameras hold the promise of cost-effective hardware, lower data rates, and improved video quality, particularly outside the visible spectrum. However, these improvements involve significant computational cost, as sensor output must be reconstructed in order to form an image viewable by a human. This paper describes a prototype automated detection and tracking system using a compressive sensing camera that does not rely on computationally costly image reconstructions. It operates on raw sensor data for an approximately ten-fold improvement in computation time over a comparable reconstruct-then-track algorithm. The detector is successful at a sensing rate of 0.3, comparable to that required for high-quality image reconstructions. If initialized with the location of a target, the tracker holds the target at a sensing rate of 0.005, below the boundary where reconstruction breaks down. These results show not only that direct tracking from compressive cameras is possible, but also give support to the pursuit of direct inference from compressive sensors of all types.