Hertfordshire University: 3-D facial biometric system

Licensing opportunity

A researcher from the School of Electronics, Communication and Electrical Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire, has developed a 3-D face imaging system that provides detailed real-time and photographic images of people’s faces using standard Matlab software and a Videre Design stereo camera.

Sooda Ramalingam’s 3-D face imaging system captures detailed images of people’s faces as they pass through high security zones by applying mathematical algorithms to Matlab software to capture peoples facial bone structures more efficiently than standard systems that generate images that can be obscured by make-up or wigs.

Ramalingam said: “Other two dimensional face imaging systems capture people’s faces, but if people are wearing make-up or wigs, they can cheat the system. Our new 3D vision system goes beyond the skin and is equivalent to measuring the bone structure. As people stand at border control, detailed images can be taken and processed immediately. We believe that this system, which is now ready to use as a research product, has many commercial applications. This is much faster than any 3-D system and processes twenty-four frames per second in real time.”

The technology was presented at the Stuff Live show at ExCel London along with a Bioloid Interactive Robot, a home automation demo, a robot controlled by handheld WII controller and Automatic Speech Cataloguing, also developed at the School of Electronics, Communication and Electrical Engineering.