F2ACCESS

The main objective of F2ACCESS (RFID and Face-based Secure Event Access) is to open a series of lines of research that address the problem of automatic face recognition in complex scenarios, such as access to conferences and events, where due to the diplomatic or institutional nature of the participant’s profile, or a high-level police risk, exceptional security measures are required. The scenario in which this project is framed is characterized by uncontrolled lighting conditions, where users do not act cooperatively and management of data should be captured in real time. F2ACCESS is focused on acquiring the necessary technology skills in facial biometrics to increase the level of security of access systems based on radio frequency identifiers (RFID), proposing a combined sketch of physical card with biometric data, which are personal and not transferable.

The proposed project is forms part of the cooperation module, with the following participants:

• Innova y Desarrolla en Red S.L; hereinafter Desarrollanet
• University of Vigo

where Gradiant, subcontracted by Desarrollanet, is responsible for the design and implementation of a robust face recognition system in realistic settings.

In order to undertake this ambitious research project, it is necessary to cover various partial goals. In regard to automatic face recognition, it is necessary to point out the intention to cover a realistic and highly uncooperative scenario, in which the people to identify are walking towards an entrance door at the same time as the required data is being captured. In this area we can identify the following objectives: i) robust detection and tracking of faces of people in motion, ii) Appropriate treatment of detected faces, to address changes in the angles of rotation that will inevitably take place through the relative position between / s camera / s and the individual to recognize, iii) Use of technologies that enable robust recognition in view of varying lighting conditions, iv) Appropriate treatment of changes in appearance due to presence / absence of beard, mustache or glasses, as well as expression changes of the subject, and v) real-time operation of the recognition system to enable flowing access. The special features of the scenario considered in F2ACCESS makes this project stand out from previous work carried out in the field of face recognition.

Furthermore, the communication between the facial recognition system and that which is based on radio is of vital importance, since the merger of the two technologies will allow an increased level of safety even in the most unfavorable conditions. To do so it will be necessary to synchronize data from both subsystems, taking the necessary steps to verify that they come from the same individual. Likewise, the processing and management of data, both biometrics and radio frequency must be carried out in real time, which implies great restrictions when dealing with the stream of captured video as well as an efficient access to the databases and rapid decision making. In this way, it will be possible to automatically inform the security personnel of any alerts or unauthorized accesses.