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Data Streams Returned by the Kinect V1 Adaptor in MATLAB

The Kinect® for Windows® device returns these data streams in MATLAB®.

  • Image stream (returned by the color sensor)

  • Depth stream (returned by the depth sensor)

  • Skeletal stream (returned by the depth sensor)

  • Audio stream (not used by the Image Acquisition Toolbox™, but could be used with MATLAB audiorecorder)

Image Stream

The image stream returns color image data and other formats using the Kinect color sensor. It supports the following formats.

FormatDescription
RawYUV_640x480Raw YUV format. Resolution of 640 x 480, frame rate of 15 frames per second, which is the maximum allowed.
RGB_1280x960RGB format. Resolution of 1280 x 960, frame rate of 12 frames per second, which is the maximum allowed.
RGB_640x480RGB format. Resolution of 640 x 480, frame rate of 30 frames per second, which is the maximum allowed.
YUV_640x480YUV format. Resolution of 640 x 480, frame rate of 15 frames per second, which is the maximum allowed.
Infrared_640x480Infrared format. MONO16 frame type with resolution of 640 x 480, frame rate of 30 frames per second, which is the maximum allowed.

The infrared stream allows you to capture frames in low light situations.

RawBayer_1280x960Raw Bayer format. MONO8 frame type with resolution of 1280 x 960, frame rate of 12 frames per second, which is the maximum allowed.

This format returns the raw Bayer pattern, so you can use your own algorithm to reconstruct the color image.

RawBayer_640x480Raw Bayer format. MONO8 frame type with resolution of 640 x 480, frame rate of 30 frames per second, which is the maximum allowed.

This format returns the raw Bayer pattern, so you can use your own algorithm to reconstruct the color image.

Depth Stream

The depth stream returns person segmentation data using the Kinect depth sensor. The depth map is distance in millimeters from the camera plane. For Skeletal Tracking only two people can be tracked at a given time, although six people can be segmented at a time. This means it can provide full tracking on two skeletons, and partial position tracking on up to four more. The tracking ranges are a default range of 50 cm to 400 cm and a near range of 40 cm to 300 cm.

The depth stream supports the following formats.

FormatDescription
Depth_640x480Resolution of 640 x 480, frame rate of 30 frames per second
Depth_320x240Resolution of 320 x 240, frame rate of 30 frames per second
Depth_80x60Resolution of 80 x 60, frame rate of 30 frames per second

Skeletal Stream

The skeletal stream returns skeletal data using the Kinect depth device. The skeleton frame returned contains data on the ground plane position and a time stamp. It contains the overall position of the skeleton and the 3-D position of all 20 joints (position in meters). Two skeletons are actively tracked, and another four are tracked passively.

Note

To understand the differences in using the Kinect adaptor compared to other toolbox adaptors, see Key Features and Differences in the Kinect V1 Support. For information about Kinect device discovery and the use of two device IDs, see Detect the Kinect V1 Devices. For an example that shows how to access the skeletal metadata, see Use Skeleton Viewer for Kinect V1 Skeletal Data.