Integration of Ultrasonic Sensors and Kinect Sensors for People Distinction and 3D Localization

The method proposed here for 3D position measurement and identification of individuals by integrating ultrasonic and Kinect sensors uses ultrasonic transmitter tags with unique identifiers. Ultrasonic sensors measure the 3D positions of and identify tagged individuals, but cannot make measurements if there are no receivers in the direction of ultrasonic waves from transmitters. Kinect sensors measure 3D positions of individuals and track them with OpenNI, but Kinect sensors cannot make measurements if occlusion occurs due to the overlapping of individuals. Evaluation results show that the method proposed here is more robust than methods only using either ultrasonic or Kinect sensors.