Face recognition technologies for evidential evaluation of video traces

Human recognition from video traces is an important task in forensic investigations and evidence evaluations. Compared with other biometric traits, face is one of the most popularly used modalities for human recognition due to the fact that its collection is non-intrusive and requires less cooperation from the subjects. Moreover, face images taken at a long distance can still provide reasonable resolution, while most biometric modalities, such as iris and fingerprint, do not have this merit. In this chapter, we discuss automatic face recognition technologies for evidential evaluations of video traces. We first introduce the general concepts in both forensic and automatic face recognition , then analyse the difficulties in face recognition from videos . We summarise and categorise the approaches for handling different uncontrollable factors in difficult recognition conditions. Finally we discuss some challenges and trends in face recognition research in both forensics and biometrics . Given its merits tested in many deployed systems and great potential in other emerging applications, considerable research and development efforts are expected to be devoted in face recognition in the near future

Predictive biometrics: A review and analysis of predicting personal characteristics from biometric data

Interest in the exploitation of soft biometrics information has continued to develop over the last decade or so. In comparison with traditional biometrics, which focuses principally on person identification, the idea of soft biometrics processing is to study the utilisation of more general information regarding a system user, which is not necessarily unique. There are increasing indications that this type of data will have great value in providing complementary information for user authentication. However, the authors have also seen a growing interest in broadening the predictive capabilities of biometric data, encompassing both easily definable characteristics such as subject age and, most recently, `higher level' characteristics such as emotional or mental states. This study will present a selective review of the predictive capabilities, in the widest sense, of biometric data processing, providing an analysis of the key issues still adequately to be addressed if this concept of predictive biometrics is to be fully exploited in the future

Investigating the impact of combining handwritten signature and keyboard keystroke dynamics for gender prediction

© 2019 IEEE. The use of soft-biometric data as an auxiliary tool on user identification is already well known. Gender, handorientation and emotional state are some examples which can be called soft-biometrics. These soft-biometric data can be predicted directly from the biometric templates. It is very common to find researches using physiological modalities for soft-biometric prediction, but behavioural biometric is often not well explored for this context. Among the behavioural biometric modalities, keystroke dynamics and handwriting signature have been widely explored for user identification, including some soft-biometric predictions. However, in these modalities, the soft-biometric prediction is usually done in an individual way. In order to fill this space, this study aims to investigate whether the combination of those two biometric modalities can impact the performance of a soft-biometric data, gender prediction. The main aim is to assess the impact of combining data from two different biometric sources in gender prediction. Our findings indicated gains in terms of performance for gender prediction when combining these two biometric modalities, when compared to the individual ones

Biometrics in forensic science: challenges, lessons and new technologies

Biometrics has historically found its natural mate in Forensics. The first applications found in the literature and over cited so many times, are related to biometric measurements for the identification of multiple offenders from some of their biometric and anthropometric characteristics (tenprint cards) and individualization of offender from traces found on crime-scenes (e.g. fingermarks, earmarks, bitemarks, DNA). From sir Francis Galton, to the introduction of AFIS systems in the scientific laboratories of police departments, Biometrics and Forensics have been "dating" with alternate results and outcomes. As a matter of facts there are many technologies developed under the "Biometrics umbrella" which may be optimised to better impact several Forensic scenarios and criminal investigations. At the same time, there is an almost endless list of open problems and processes in Forensics which may benefit from the introduction of tailored Biometric technologies. Joining the two disciplines, on a proper scientific ground, may only result in the success for both fields, as well as a tangible benefit for the society. A number of Forensic processes may involve Biometric-related technologies, among them: Evidence evaluation, Forensic investigation, Forensic Intelligence, Surveillance, Forensic ID management and Verification.\ud The COST Action IC1106 funded by the European Commission, is trying to better understand how Biometric and Forensics synergies can be exploited within a pan-European scientific alliance which extends its scope to partners from USA, China and Australia.\ud Several results have been already accomplished pursuing research in this direction. Notably the studies in 2D and 3D face recognition have been gradually applied to the forensic investigation process. In this paper a few solutions will be presented to match 3D face shapes along with some experimental results

On Acquisition and Analysis of a Dataset Comprising of Gait, Ear and Semantic data

In outdoor scenarios such as surveillance where there is very little control over the environments, complex computer vision algorithms are often required for analysis. However constrained environments, such as walkways in airports where the surroundings and the path taken by individuals can be controlled, provide an ideal application for such systems. Figure 1.1 depicts an idealised constrained environment. The path taken by the subject is restricted to a narrow path and once inside is in a volume where lighting and other conditions are controlled to facilitate biometric analysis. The ability to control the surroundings and the flow of people greatly simplifes the computer vision task, compared to typical unconstrained environments. Even though biometric datasets with greater than one hundred people are increasingly common, there is still very little known about the inter and intra-subject variation in many biometrics. This information is essential to estimate the recognition capability and limits of automatic recognition systems. In order to accurately estimate the inter- and the intra- class variance, substantially larger datasets are required [40]. Covariates such as facial expression, headwear, footwear type, surface type and carried items are attracting increasing attention; although considering the potentially large impact on an individuals biometrics, large trials need to be conducted to establish how much variance results. This chapter is the first description of the multibiometric data acquired using the University of Southampton's Multi-Biometric Tunnel [26, 37]; a biometric portal using automatic gait, face and ear recognition for identification purposes. The tunnel provides a constrained environment and is ideal for use in high throughput security scenarios and for the collection of large datasets. We describe the current state of data acquisition of face, gait, ear, and semantic data and present early results showing the quality and range of data that has been collected. The main novelties of this dataset in comparison with other multi-biometric datasets are: 1. gait data exists for multiple views and is synchronised, allowing 3D reconstruction and analysis; 2. the face data is a sequence of images allowing for face recognition in video; 3. the ear data is acquired in a relatively unconstrained environment, as a subject walks past; and 4. the semantic data is considerably more extensive than has been available previously. We shall aim to show the advantages of this new data in biometric analysis, though the scope for such analysis is considerably greater than time and space allows for here

Mind the Gap:A practical framework for classifiers in a forensic context

In this paper, we present a practical framework that addresses six, mostly forensic, aspects that can be considered during the design and evaluation of biometric classifiers for the purpose of forensic evidence evaluation. Forensic evidence evaluation is a central activity in forensic case work, it includes the assessment of strength of evidence of trace and reference specimens and its outcome may be used in a court of law. The addressed aspects consider the modality and features, the biometric score and its forensic use, and choice and evaluation of several performance characteristics and metrics. The aim of the framework is to make the design and evaluation choices more transparent. We also present two applications of the framework pertaining to forensic face recognition. Using the framework, we can demonstrate large and explainable variations in discriminating power between subjects

VOICE BIOMETRICS FUSION FOR ENHANCED SECURITY AND SPEAKER RECOGNITION: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

The scope of this paper is purposefully limited to the 15 voice biometrics modalities discussed by Jain et al. (2004). The place of Voice within their classification scheme is reexamined in light of important developments that have taken place since 2010. Additionally, elements are added to Mayhew’s (2018) overview of the history of biometrics as an attempt to fill in missing gaps concerning Voice. All this leads to a reassessment of voice biometrics and how it relates to other biometric modalities. Speech segments that carry extremely high identity vector loads are discussed. The main assertion of this paper is that increased computing power, advanced algorithms, and the deployment of Artificial Intelligent have made voice biometrics optimal for use. Furthermore, the analysis of the compatibility among modalities, the estimation of inconvenience penalty, and the calculation of the arithmetic distances between various modalities indicate that the fusion of {Voice + Face}, {Voice + Fingerprint}, {Voice + Iris}, and {Voice + Signature} on the one hand, and of {Voice + Face +Fingerprint}, {Voice +Fingerprint + Signature} on the other, offer the best liveliness assurance against hacking, spoofing, and other malicious activities

Pseudo Identities Based on Fingerprint Characteristics

This paper presents the integrated project TURBINE which is funded under the EU 7th research framework programme. This research is a multi-disciplinary effort on privacy enhancing technology, combining innovative developments in cryptography and fingerprint recognition. The objective of this project is to provide a breakthrough in electronic authentication for various applications in the physical world and on the Internet. On the one hand it will provide secure identity verification thanks to fingerprint recognition. On the other hand it will reliably protect the biometric data through advanced cryptography technology. In concrete terms, it will provide the assurance that (i) the data used for the authentication, generated from the fingerprint, cannot be used to restore the original fingerprint sample, (ii) the individual will be able to create different "pseudo-identities" for different applications with the same fingerprint, whilst ensuring that these different identities (and hence the related personal data) cannot be linked to each other, and (iii) the individual is enabled to revoke an biometric identifier (pseudo-identity) for a given application in case it should not be used anymore