Facial recognition accuracy to be improved through 3-D modeling

Sept. 18, 2010
HERNDON, VA., 18 Sept. 2010. Facial-recognition experts will soon be able to make two-dimensional, partial images of suspects through three-dimensional technology. Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and Animetrics in Conway, N.H., were recently awarded a research and development contract by the U.S. Government to improve the accuracy of facial recognition.
Posted by John McHaleHERNDON, VA., 18 Sept. 2010.Facial-recognition experts will soon be able to make two-dimensional, partial images of suspects through three-dimensional technology. Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and Animetrics in Conway, N.H., were recently awarded a research and development contract by the U.S. Government to improve the accuracy of facial recognition.Currently, many pictures taken by security cameras are only partial or side-views of the subject's face, making it difficult to identify suspects. The new technology will allow experts to use 3-D modeling to recreate the subject's entire face, which experts will then compare to existing mug shots or file photos of the suspect."Lockheed Martin's experience in facial recognition software already deployed in today's field, together with Animetrics' 3-D modeling will greatly assist in our customer's ability to solve facial identity cases," says Bob Eastman, vice president, Information Systems for Lockheed Martin.The contract calls for a facial image comparison tool to be used by human operators as they narrow down the results delivered by automated facial-recognition tools. The objective of this program is to develop a software product that may be validated for use in case work."This is an important step in advancing biometric and facial-recognition technology," Eastman says. "In the future, we hope to develop technologies that will not only model existing pictures in 3-D, but also collect images in 3-D."Animetrics is a developer of cloud-based web service facial search and retrieval applications using its 2-D to 3-D technology.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Military Aerospace, create an account today!