As the recent July 7th London bombings would reveal, biometric technology
images from over 200,000 video surveillance cameras are key weapons against the
terrorists. What makes these biometric cameras so extraordinary is that these
cameras have a 360-spherical lens, called a fisheye, to follow someone
movements and the camera computers can be programmed to identify particular
faces from a database.
The fisheye and other security solutions are manufactured by Ipix
Corporation, which provides governments and large firms with the latest video
surveillance technologies. Says Ipix president, Clara Conti, these cameras
don't have any blind spots. Fixed cameras have blind spots.These cameras
capture the biometric facial recognition data needed to identify suspects and
solve crimes.
What is biometrics?
Biometrics is a field of technology that uses automated methods for
identifying or verifying a subject based on a physiological or behavioral
characteristic. Among the features measured are the face, fingerprints, hand
geometry, handwriting, iris, retinal, and voice. The individual
characteristics are then compared to other individuals stored on biometric
templates within a database. If there is correlation between the template and
the subject, a high score would be generated and the authorities alerted. Using
biometric technologies to identify the bombers faces is an accurate and
cutting-edge solution.
A4Vision Inc, a 3-D facial imaging products and technology manufacturer,
transfers barely-visible infrared light onto a subject face to determine its
facial contours from the light pattern. Another manufacturer, Geometrix,
combines two or more cameras to build a 3-D shape via triangulation. Its
ActiveFusion surveillance technology blends 3-D face, 2-D face, and fingerprint
biometrics to claim submillimeter accuracy.
Both of these companies systems need high resolution cameras to achieve the
results expected and they work best when the subject is a few feet away from the
video cameras. Although a poor image can reduce the effectiveness of the
camera work, a great deal is being done in this technological field to
standardize image quality, and improve the quality and size of the biometric
template database.
How to evaluate these biometric solutions
Although evaluation techniques for biometric solutions are not standardized,
research enterprises and commercial firms are encouraged to take the Face
Recognition Vendor Tests (FRVT). The FRVT will perform tests on all of the
databases in order to achieve an objective and fair comparison among the
vendors. These evaluations will provide the U.S. Government and law enforcement
agencies with information to determining where and how facial identification
technology can best be deployed. In addition, FRVT results will help identify
future research directions for professionals in the video surveillance and
biometric field.
Biometric technologies are the foundation of a new identification solution
for video surveillance. As terrorism threat increases, more businesses and
governments are turning to biometrics to quickly resolve security issues to make
their employees and citizens safer.
