Communication in distributed tracking systems: an ontology-based approach to improve cooperation

Current Computer Vision systems are expected to allow for the management of data acquired by physically distributed cameras. This is especially the case for modern surveillance systems, which require communication between components and a combination of their outputs in order to obtain a complete view of the scene. Information fusion techniques have been successfully applied in this area, but several problems remain unsolved. One of them is the increasing need for coordination and cooperation between independent and heterogeneous cameras. A solution to achieve an understanding between them is to use a common and well-defined message content vocabulary. In this research work, we present a formal ontology aimed at the symbolic representation of visual data, mainly detected tracks corresponding to real-world moving objects. Such an ontological representation provides support for spontaneous communication and component interoperability, increases system scalability and facilitates the development of high-level fusion procedures. The ontology is used by the agents of Cooperative Surveillance Multi-Agent System, our multi-agent framework for multi-camera surveillance systems.