FAQs on Facial Biometrics

1.What is biometrics?

Biometrics is the science of measuring and studying biological data. In I.T., biometrics refers to technologies that measure and analyze human body characteristics, such as fingerprints, eye retinas and irises, voice patterns, facial patterns and hand measurements, for authentication purposes.

2.What is the most common biometrics?

Fingerprints have been using successfully in a law enforcement environment for over 100 years. New biometrics systems have emerged in recent years including Hand Geometry, Iris Recognition, Retina Recognition, Signature Verification, Vein Patterns, Facial Recognition and DNA.

3.What is a Facial Recognition System?

Facial Recognition system is a computer program that is used for identifying a person automatically. Research on this technology started in the mid 1960s. The technology works by using several facial features in a person's image and comparing these with existing images in the database. Facial recognition systems are used as an additional and mass security measure and are comparable to the other biometric security systems available today such as retina scanners, fingerprint scanners, etc.

4.How well do biometrics work?

Used in the right environment, biometrics can make a major contribution to improving security. It has to be understood that no single biometric that can be used in real-time is 100% accurate. However when used in conjunction with a personal identifier such as an ID card or PIN, it can be a very effective means for verifying one’s individuality. Its importance generally comes as an aid to recognition rather than guaranteeing someone's identity.

5.How are biometrics selected?

While the emphasis will differ in different applications, the following criteria are used to determine which biometric should be used in a specific application:

• accuracy
• speed
• intrusiveness

6.How does biometrics work?

Almost all biometrics work essentially in the same way. The finger/face/iris is scanned and the locations of key features of the pattern relative to each other are determined. This information is transformed into a digital string and then it is added to the individual's record. When a match is undertaken, the process is repeated and a second string is generated. By matching this string with the one on the individual's record and comparing the result to a user-specified acceptance threshold,the system can establish the facts on the individual’s claim on his identity.

7.What is the Technology behind Facial Recognition Systems?

The most important factor in Facial Recognition systems is its ability to differentiate between the background and the face. This is very important when the system has to identify a face within a crowd. The system then makes use of a person's facial features - its peaks, valleys and landmarks - and treats these as nodes that can be measured and compared against those that are stored in the system database. There are approximately 80 nodes comprising the face print that the system makes use of and this includes the jaw line length, eye socket depth and distance between the eyes, cheekbone shape, and the width of the nose.

8.What is FAR, FRR ?

The accuracy of face recognition system is often defined in terms of two parameters, False Rejection Rate (FRR) and False Acceptance Rate (FAR).
FRR measures how often an authorized user, who should be granted access, is not recognized, while FAR measures how often non-authorized user, who should not be granted access, is falsely recognized.
The control of FRR and FAR through recognition threshold adjustment defines the accuracy of face recognition system. When the recognition threshold is increased, it will adversely cause FAR to decrease. At the same time however, the increase of recognition threshold will result in the increase of FRR. For example, when recognition threshold is set at 100%, FRR rate will increase to its highest level.

9.What is Live Detection?

Live Detection Technology detects and memorizes the background where the camera is facing as part of parameters for identification and verification process. It can effectively detect the difference between a photo and a person in order to prevent imposters to gain access using photos

10.What is Moving Detection?

Face Recognition System is equipped with moving detection function that analyzes the captured image periodically to identify the presence of a moving object and its position. The face detection function then analyzes images to detect a human face and its position.
These two functions can be integrated to provide automated surveillance for detecting moving faces, positioning and data recording. The records can be used in Face Recognition System for enrollment purpose.

11.Three-Dimensional facial Recognition Systems

The new facial recognition systems make use of three-dimensional images and are thus more accurate than their predecessors. Just like two-dimensional facial recognition systems, these systems make use of distinct features in a human face and use them as nodes to create a face print of a person. Unlike two-dimensional face recognition systems, however, they have the ability to recognize a face even when it is turned 90 degrees away from the camera. Moreover, they are not affected by the differences in lighting and facial expressions of the subject.