Systems and methods for tracking and controlling a mobile camera to image objects of interest

A method for controlling a mobile camera to capture an image of at least one object of interest (OOI), comprising:

• determining, from a first tracking tag attached to the OOI, an object location;
• determining, from a second tracking tag attached to the mobile camera, a camera location and a camera orientation;
• generating, based upon the object location, the camera location, and the camera orientation, a movement plan for the mobile camera to maintain a desired perspective of the OOI from the mobile camera, the desired perspective defining a range and a direction of the mobile camera relative to the object location;
• and
• controlling movement of the mobile camera based upon the movement plan.

A system for controlling a mobile camera to have a desired field of view of an object of interest (OOI) within an operational area, comprising:

• a first tracking tag configured with the first OOI and configured to periodically transmit a first locate signal;
• a second tracking tag configured with the first mobile camera and configured to periodically transmit a second locate signal;
• a tracking apparatus having at least three receivers positioned around an operational area and configured to receive the first and second locate signals, for each of the first and second locate signals, the tracking apparatus determining first and second location data for the first OOI and the first mobile camera, respectively;
• a camera control apparatus having a processor and a memory containing machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor perform the step of:
• generating a movement plan for the first mobile camera to maintain a desired perspective of the first OOI based upon at least the first and second location data, the movement plan defining a velocity and orientation of the first mobile camera.