Authors:
            
                    Julia Richter
                    
                        
                    
                    ; 
                
                    Christian Wiede
                    
                        
                    
                     and
                
                    Gangolf Hirtz
                    
                        
                    
                    
                
        
        
            Affiliation:
            
                    
                        
                    
                    Technische Universität Chemnitz, Germany
                
        
        
        
        
        
             Keyword(s):
            Human Skeleton Extraction, Thermal Imaging, Head Localisation.
        
        
            
                Related
                    Ontology
                    Subjects/Areas/Topics:
                
                        Applications and Services
                    ; 
                        Computer Vision, Visualization and Computer Graphics
                    ; 
                        Medical Image Applications
                    
            
        
        
            
                Abstract: 
                Human skeleton extraction has become a key instrument for motion analysis in the fields of surveillance,
entertainment and medical diagnostics. While a vast amount of research has been carried out on skeleton
extraction using RGB and depth images, far too little attention has been paid to extraction methods using
long-wavelength infrared images. This paper provides an overview about existing approaches and explores
their limitations. So far, extant studies have exploited thermal data only for silhouette generation as a preprocessing
step. Moreover, they make strong assumptions, such as T-pose initialization. On this basis, we are
developing an algorithm to fit the joints of a skeleton model into thermal images without such restrictions. We
propose to find the head location as an initial step by using probability masks. These masks are designed to
allow a robust head localisation in unrestricted settings. For the future algorithm design, we plan to localise the
remaining skeleton join
                ts by means of geometrical constraints. At this point, we will also consider sequences
where persons wear thick clothes, which is aggravating the extraction procedure. This paper presents the
current state of this project and outlines further approaches that have to be investigated to extract the complete
skeleton.
                (More)