Embedded Middleware for Smart Camera Networks and Sensor Fusion

Smart cameras represent an interesting research field that has evolved over the last decade. In this chapter we focus on the integration of multiple, potentially heterogeneous smart cameras into a distributed system for computer vision and sensor fusion. Because an important aspect of distributed systems is the system-level software, also called middleware, we discuss the middleware requirements of distributed smart cameras and the services the middleware must provide. In our opinion, a middleware following the agent-oriented paradigm allows us to build flexible and self-organizing applications that encourage a modular design.