System and method for detecting and tracking an object

A computing system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory system comprising one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• identifying a first image, wherein the first image is captured by a camera on a first aircraft at a first time;
• detecting a location of a first object in the first image, wherein the first object is moving;
• determining a region of interest based at least partially upon the location of the first object in the first image, wherein the region of interest comprises a plurality of pixels in the first image, and wherein each pixel in the region of interest has a probability that is greater than a predetermined threshold that the first object will be located therein at a second time;
• identifying a second image, wherein the second image is captured by the camera on the first aircraft at the second time;
• identifying the region of interest in the second image;
• and
• detecting a location of a second object in a portion of the second image that is outside of the region of interest, wherein the second object is moving.

A computing system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a memory system comprising one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• identifying a first image, wherein the first image is captured by a camera on a first aircraft at a first time;
• detecting a location of a first object in the first image using a hidden Markov model, wherein the first object is a second aircraft in flight, and wherein the first object is represented as five or fewer pixels in the first image;
• determining a region of interest based at least partially upon the location of the first object in the first image, wherein the first object is located within the region of interest, wherein the region of interest comprises a plurality of pixels in the first image, wherein each pixel in the region of interest has a probability that is greater than a predetermined threshold that the first object will be located therein at a second time, and wherein the second time is after the first time;
• identifying a second image, wherein the second image is captured by the camera on the first aircraft at the second time;
• identifying the region of interest in the second image;
• detecting the location of the first object in the region of interest in the second image using the hidden Markov model;
• detecting a location of a second object in a portion of the second image that is outside of the region of interest using the hidden Markov model to avoid re-detection of the first object, wherein the second object is a third aircraft in flight;
• predicting a trajectory of the first and second objects based at least partially upon the location of the first object in the first image, the location of the first object in the second image, and the location of the second object in the second image;
• and
• causing the first aircraft to navigate based at least partially upon the trajectory of the first and second objects.