There is provided a real-time tracking system and a method associated therewith for identifying and tracking objects moving in a physical region, typically for producing a physical effect, in real-time, in response to the movement of each object. The system scans a plane, which intersects a physical space, in order to collect reflection-distance data as a function of position along the plane. The reflection-distance data is then processed by a shape-analysis subsystem in order to locate among the reflection-distance data, a plurality of discontinuities, which are in turn associated to one or more detected objects. Each detected object is identified and stored in an identified-object structure. The scanning and processing is repeated for a number of iterations, wherein each detected object is identified with respect to the previously scanned objects, through matching with the identified-object structures, in order to follow the course of each particular object.