Data Association Methods via Video Signal Processing in Imperfect Tracking Scenarios: A Review and Evaluation

In 5G scenarios, there are a large number of video signals that need to be processed. Multiobject tracking is one of the main directions in video signal processing. Data association is a very important link in tracking algorithms. Complexity and efficiency of association method have a direct impact on the performance of multiobject tracking. Breakthroughs have been made in data association methods based on deep learning, and the performance has been greatly improved compared with traditional methods. However, there is a lack of overviews about data association methods. Therefore, this article first analyzes characteristics and performance of three traditional data association methods and then focuses on data association methods based on deep learning, which is divided into different deep network structures: SOT methods, end-to-end methods, and Wasserstein metric methods. The performance of each tracking method is compared and analyzed. Finally, it summarizes the current common datasets and evaluation criteria for multiobject tracking and discusses challenges and development trends of data association technology and data association methods which ensure robust and real time need to be continuously improved.