Hand tracking in a natural conversational environment by the interacting multiple model and probabilistic data association (IMM-PDA) algorithm

Traditional image based hand tracking algorithms use a single model Kalman filter to estimate and predict the hand state (position, velocity, and acceleration) and do not consider multiple measurements with noise and false alarms. However, these approaches may fail in the case of large maneuvers and/or a clutter measurement environment. In this paper, we apply the interacting multiple model (IMM) to catch hand maneuvers and the probabilistic data association (PDA) method to process noisy measurements and false alarms. A theoretical framework of image based hand tracking by the IMM-PDA algorithm is set up. Experiment results from several long video segments show that the IMM-PDA algorithm gives a superior performance compared to single model based Kalman filters.