Abstract
The notion of a Fast Moving Object (FMO), i.e. an object that moves over a distance exceeding its size within the
exposure time, is introduced. FMOs may, and typically do,
rotate with high angular speed. FMOs are very common in
sports videos, but are not rare elsewhere. In a single frame,
such objects are often barely visible and appear as semitransparent streaks.
A method for the detection and tracking of FMOs is proposed. The method consists of three distinct algorithms,
which form an efficient localization pipeline that operates
successfully in a broad range of conditions. We show that
it is possible to recover the appearance of the object and its
axis of rotation, despite its blurred appearance. The proposed method is evaluated on a new annotated dataset. The
results show that existing trackers are inadequate for the
problem of FMO localization and a new approach is required. Two applications of localization, temporal superresolution and highlighting, are presented.