A method for tracking moving particles in a fluid. The method includes illuminating the moving particles with an illumination sequence of patterns generated by a light projector; measuring with a single camera light intensities reflected by the moving particles; calculating, based on the measured light intensity, digital coordinates (x′, y′, z′) of the moving particles; determining a mapping function f that maps the digital coordinates (x′, y′, z′) of the moving particles to physical coordinates (x, y, z) of the moving particles; and calculating the physical coordinates (x, y, z) of the moving particles based on the mapping function f. The illumination sequence of patterns is generated with a single wavelength, and light emitted by the projector is perpendicular to light received by the single camera.