Optical motion tracking
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Motion Tracking can differ from Motion Capture because in applications such as sports and missiles the object of interest is tracked optically instead of a person. The technology is basically the same, with some differences in that many of the Optical Motion Tracking applications occur outdoors, requiring differing lens and camera configurations.
The software is often identical although usually there is only one object being tracked at a time, with the exception of tracking bullets and muzzle flash.
The high cost of optical tracking systems has made this a limited area of research, although with inexpensive CMOS cameras this is becoming more viable and will likely being to supplant radar and other lower resolution technologies in the near future.
Radar tracking is fundamentally lower resolution because the pulse repetition rate and sweap rates are lower, as well as the wavelengths are longer. Newer and higher frequency RADAR systems have increased resolution, and for most applications are sufficient, but the cost is still an issue.
Leveraging the millions of cameras being developed for Cell Phones, Web Cams, and other applications, CMOS cameras will likely win in short range applications due to costs, even though the visible wavelengths are less optimal.
