Horn-Schunck Optical Flow Algorithm

Application Background The principle of optical flow method for detecting moving objects: assigning a velocity vector (optical flow) to each pixel in an image forms an optical flow field. If there are no moving objects, the optical flow field remains continuous and uniform. When moving objects are present, their optical flow differs from the background, causing discontinuities in the flow field, enabling detection of moving objects and their positions. Key Technologies 1.2 Horn-Schunck Model In 1981, Horn and Schunck introduced a variational approach by incorporating a global smoothness constraint based on the continuous and smooth characteristics of optical flow fields for moving objects. The energy equation consists of: - Data term representing brightness constancy constraint - Smoothness term enforcing flow field continuity