Real-Time 3D Tracking of Multi-Particle in the Wide-Field Illumination Based on Deep Learning

Sensors (Basel). 2024 Apr 18;24(8):2583. doi: 10.3390/s24082583.

Abstract

In diverse realms of research, such as holographic optical tweezer mechanical measurements, colloidal particle motion state examinations, cell tracking, and drug delivery, the localization and analysis of particle motion command paramount significance. Algorithms ranging from conventional numerical methods to advanced deep-learning networks mark substantial strides in the sphere of particle orientation analysis. However, the need for datasets has hindered the application of deep learning in particle tracking. In this work, we elucidated an efficacious methodology pivoted toward generating synthetic datasets conducive to this domain that resonates with robustness and precision when applied to real-world data of tracking 3D particles. We developed a 3D real-time particle positioning network based on the CenterNet network. After conducting experiments, our network has achieved a horizontal positioning error of 0.0478 μm and a z-axis positioning error of 0.1990 μm. It shows the capability to handle real-time tracking of particles, diverse in dimensions, near the focal plane with high precision. In addition, we have rendered all datasets cultivated during this investigation accessible.

Keywords: deep learning; image visualization; particle tracking; wide-field microscopy.