By Ben Ames
MINNETONKA, Minn.-Identix Inc. in Minnetonka, Minn., won a contract from the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop applications that take advantage of recent advances in automatic facial recognition.
The $1.6 million contract, involves long-term facial-recognition research into near-term real-world problems. Among the areas that Identix researchers will pursue are fusion of facial and skin recognition algorithms for heightened accuracy and speed for identification applications; integration of surface technology analysis (skin biometrics) into facial-recognition applications; evaluating the state-of-the-art advances in digital camera imaging technology and its influence on facial-recognition performance; and analysis of facial-recognition performance in direct sunlight.
Company researchers seek to further the state of the art in facial- and image-recognition technologies for human identification, justify new facial-recognition applications for antiterrorism, and develop a human-identity system for the U.S. military.
“Improving our core technologies through a focus on the value of biometric applications is the hallmark of our research program,” says Joseph Atick, the Identix president chief executive officer.
“Our work on facial recognition technology applications for some of our government’s leading agencies is rapidly expanding in both the scope of the applications and the breadth of agencies looking to incorporate facial-recognition solutions to solve real-world issues,” Atick says. “We believe our government as well as governments and corporate enterprises throughout the world are firmly committed to taking meaningful steps toward adopting biometrics for a very large number of diverse programs and applications.”
ONR promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and provides technical advice to the Chief of Naval Operations and the Secretary of the Navy, working with industry to improve technology manufacturing processes.
Identix is a multi-biometric-technology company that provides fingerprint, facial, and skin biometric technologies, as well as systems to identify individuals in large-scale ID-management programs.
The company makes live-scan systems and services for biometric-data capture, mobile systems for on-the-spot ID, and back-end standards-based modules and software components for biometric matching and data mining.
Identix products are used to conduct background checks, speed travel and commerce via secure identification documents, prevent identity fraud in large-scale government and civil ID programs, and control access to secure areas and networks. For more information, see www.identix.com.
