Topolo Surface: A 2D fiducial tracking system based on topological region adjacency and angle information

In this paper, we describe Topolo Surface, a 2D fiducial tracking system we developed. Topolo Surface is a prototype system that implements a novel fiducial tracking method based on the combination of topological region adjacency and angle information. Existing systems based only on topological region adjacency information, such as D-Touch and ReacTIVision, have several desirable features including fast processing speed and robustness against false positive detection. Yet, the method used in these systems also has several deficits. The unique ID range in existing topology-based methods is very narrow and the cost to generate the set of such unique fiducial markers can be computationally very expensive, especially when compared to existing matrix-based systems. Also, several useful techniques to improve robustness, such as CRC or hamming distance, cannot be applied to existing topology-based systems. Our novel fiducial tracking method utilizes the combination of topological region adjacency and angle information. By using topological information together with geometrical information, our prototype system achieved much larger unique ID range at very cheap computational cost to generate its fiducial markers. This is achieved while maintaining the desirable features of fast processing speed and robustness against false positives in a topology-based method. Also, CRC or hamming distance can be applied to our method to improve the robustness, if necessary.