<p>A common problem when using background models to segment moving objects from video sequences is that objects cast shadow usually significantly differ from the background and therefore get detected as foreground. This causes several problems when extracting and labeling objects, such as object shape distortion and several objects merging together. The purpose of this thesis is to explore various possibilities to handle this problem.</p><p>Three methods for statistical background modeling are reviewed. All methods work on a per pixel basis, the first is based on approximating the median, the next on using Gaussian mixture models, and the last one is based on channel representation. It is concluded that all methods detect cast shadows as foreground.</p><p>A study of existing methods to handle cast shadows has been carried out in order to gain knowledge on the subject and get ideas. A common approach is to transform the RGB-color representation into a representation that separates color into intensity and chromatic components in order to determine whether or not newly sampled pixel-values are related to the background. The color spaces HSV, IHSL, CIELAB, YCbCr, and a color model proposed in the literature (Horprasert et al.) are discussed and compared for the purpose of shadow detection. It is concluded that Horprasert's color model is the most suitable for this purpose.</p><p>The thesis ends with a proposal of a method to combine background modeling using Gaussian mixture models with shadow detection using Horprasert's color model. It is concluded that, while not perfect, such a combination can be very helpful in segmenting objects and detecting their cast shadow.</p>

In this master thesis the possibility of detecting and tracking objects in multispectral infrared video sequences is investigated. The current method  with fix-sized rectangles have significant disadvantages. These disadvantages will be solved using image segmentation to estimate the shape of the object. The result of the image segmentation is used to determine the infrared contrast of the object. Our results show how some objects will give very good segmentation, tracking as well as shape detection. The objects that perform best are the flares and countermeasures. But especially helicopters seen from the side, with significant movements, is better detected with our method. The motion of the object is very important since movement is the main component in successful shape detection. This is so because helicopters are much colder than flares and engines. Detecting the presence and position of moving objects is easier and can be done quite successfully even with helicopters. But using structure tensors we can also detect the presence and estimate the position for stationary objects. / I detta examensarbete undersöks möjligheterna att detektera och spåra intressanta objekt i multispektrala infraröda videosekvenser. Den nuvarande metoden, som använder sig av rektanglar med fix storlek, har sina nackdelar. Dessa nackdelar kommer att lösas med hjälp av bildsegmentering för att uppskatta formen på önskade mål.Utöver detektering och spårning försöker vi också att hitta formen och konturen för intressanta objekt för att kunna använda den exaktare passformen vid kontrastberäkningar. Denna framsegmenterade kontur ersätter de gamla fixa rektanglarna som använts tidigare för att beräkna intensitetskontrasten för objekt i de infraröda våglängderna. Resultaten som presenteras visar att det för vissa objekt, som motmedel och facklor, är lättare att få fram en bra kontur samt målföljning än vad det är med helikoptrar, som var en annan önskad måltyp. De svårigheter som uppkommer med helikoptrar beror till stor del på att de är mycket svalare vilket gör att delar av helikoptern kan helt döljas i bruset från bildsensorn. För att kompensera för detta används metoder som utgår ifrån att objektet rör sig mycket i videon så att rörelsen kan användas som detekteringsparameter. Detta ger bra resultat för de videosekvenser där målet rör sig mycket i förhållande till sin storlek.

A common problem when using background models to segment moving objects from video sequences is that objects cast shadow usually significantly differ from the background and therefore get detected as foreground. This causes several problems when extracting and labeling objects, such as object shape distortion and several objects merging together. The purpose of this thesis is to explore various possibilities to handle this problem. Three methods for statistical background modeling are reviewed. All methods work on a per pixel basis, the first is based on approximating the median, the next on using Gaussian mixture models, and the last one is based on channel representation. It is concluded that all methods detect cast shadows as foreground. A study of existing methods to handle cast shadows has been carried out in order to gain knowledge on the subject and get ideas. A common approach is to transform the RGB-color representation into a representation that separates color into intensity and chromatic components in order to determine whether or not newly sampled pixel-values are related to the background. The color spaces HSV, IHSL, CIELAB, YCbCr, and a color model proposed in the literature (Horprasert et al.) are discussed and compared for the purpose of shadow detection. It is concluded that Horprasert's color model is the most suitable for this purpose. The thesis ends with a proposal of a method to combine background modeling using Gaussian mixture models with shadow detection using Horprasert's color model. It is concluded that, while not perfect, such a combination can be very helpful in segmenting objects and detecting their cast shadow.