Towards a more secure border control with 3D face recognition

Biometric data have been integrated in all ICAO compliant passports, since the ICAO members started to implement the ePassport standard. The additional use of three-dimensional models promises significant performance enhancements for border control points. By combining the geometry- and texture-channel information of the face, 3D face recognition systems show an improved robustness while processing variations in poses and problematic lighting conditions when taking the photo. This even holds in a hybrid scenario, when a 3D face scan is compared to a 2D reference image. To assess the potential of three-dimensional face recognition, the 3D Face project was initiated. This paper outlines the approach and research results of this project: The objective was not only to increase the recognition rate but also to develop a new, fake resistant capture device. In addition, methods for protection of the biometric template were researched and the second generation of the international standard ISO/IEC 19794-5:2011 was inspired by the project results

On CP1 and CP2 maps and Weierstrass representations for surfaces immersed into multi-dimensional Euclidean spaces

An extension of the classic Enneper-Weierstrass representation for conformally parametrised surfaces in multi-dimensional spaces is presented. This is based on low dimensional CP^1 and CP^2 sigma models which allow the study of the constant mean curvature (CMC) surfaces immersed into Euclidean 3- and 8-dimensional spaces, respectively. Relations of Weierstrass type systems to the equations of these sigma models are established. In particular, it is demonstrated that the generalised Weierstrass representation can admit different CMC-surfaces in R^3 which have globally the same Gauss map. A new procedure for constructing CMC-surfaces in R^n is presented and illustrated in some explicit examples.Comment: arxiv version is already officia