The effect of time on gait recognition performance

Abstract

Many studies have shown that it is possible to recognize people by the way they walk. However, there are a number of covariate factors that affect recognition performance. The time between capturing the gallery and the probe has been reported to affect recognition the most. To date, no study has shown the isolated effect of time, irrespective of other covariates. Here we present the first principled study that examines the effect of elapsed time on gait recognition. Using empirical evidence we show for the first time that elapsed time does not affect recognition significantly in the short to medium term. By controlling the clothing worn by the subjects and the environment, a Correct Classification Rate (CCR) of 95% has been achieved over 9 months, on a dataset of 2280 gait samples. Our results show that gait can be used as a reliable biometric over time and at a distance. We have created a new multimodal temporal database to enable the research community to investigate various gait and face covariates. We have also investigated the effect of different type of clothes, variations in speed and footwear on the recognition performance. We have demonstrated that clothing drastically affects performance regardless of elapsed time and significantly more than any of the other covariates that we have considered here. The research then suggests a move towards developing appearance invariant recognition algorithms. Thi