In a system that monitors the positions and movements of objects within an environment, a depth camera may be configured to produce depth images based on configurable measurement parameters such as illumination intensity and sensing duration. A supervisory component may be configured to roughly identify objects within an environment and to specify observation goals with respect to the objects. The measurement parameters of the depth camera may then be configured in accordance with the goals, and subsequent analyses of the environment may be based on depth images obtained using the measurement parameters.