Applications of Facial Recognition Biometrics
Facial recognition is a biometric software application which can identify a person through his/her digital image. Digital image here means the facial components of a person like lip size, cheekbone shape etc. They are primarily used for security reasons but current trends indicate its application in multiple spheres like online shopping, gaming etc.
How does it work?
Facial recognition works on the principle that the various face pointers are differentiated by the shape and size of the face. A facial recognition system identifies these differences as Nodal Points. Every human face has approximately 80 nodal points. These are measured in terms of:
Nose width
Lip size
Jaw line length
Eye socket depths
Distance between eyes
Cheekbone shape
The nodal points are then measured creating a numerical code known as Faceprint that represents the face in the database.
Some Applications
Since Facial Recognition System (FRS) is innovative and reliable, its use and applications are increasing with government and private firms backing it.
Financial Security
Banks and financial institutions are using this technology to remove the usual PIN and password protection methods which could be counterfeited. FRS can also safeguard vaults and deposit boxes against loots.
E-commerce
It helps verify the identity of shoppers and fastens the shopping and transaction process.
Immigration
This serves as a stronghold against international terrorists who want to unleash terror in foreign soil. The effectiveness to identify a threat increases five-fold as it’s difficult for human eyes to identify people with just a photograph.
Law Enforcement
An FRS application includes acclaimed CABS-computerized arrest, booking system and child protection measures. This is used globally to recover missing and exploited children. This helps verify molesters and traffickers.
Access Control
FRS can help identify a person on their identity claims. It eliminates the risk of people obtaining false keys and access cards.
Surveillance/scene analysis
FRS has the ability to extract, categorize and search for non-facial imagery like scars, tattoos, marks etc. The software is capable of identifying the exact people it wants to find in a crowd. It can analyze scenes from archived videos for the precise faces.
Homeland Defense
Homeland defense is a major part of a country’s development. Countries around the world are making sure that this system helps them prevent terrorists from boarding aircraft, protecting critical infrastructure like dams, temples, bridges, energy plants etc.
Aviation Security
Airports are slowly rooting towards this technology for obvious reasons. Apart from the usual metal detectors and fortifications, FRS use can help identify and nab suspects without much hard work. Since most terrorists arrive either through planes or ships, aviation becomes an important sphere to protect.
Voter Verification
It verifies various government officials prior to voting and election campaigns. Also, it stops forged and repeated voting.
Facial recognition is one of the most popular biometric technologies along with Iris and Fingerprint scanning. The applications of FRS are however on a rise and have found their way into the gaming industry as well. Because of the excellent features, its dominance grows and will grow until each and every necessary sphere hasn’t been included by this technology.
