NEC’s video face recognition technology achieves top results in NIST testing

NEC Corporation announced that its face recognition technology achieved the highest performance evaluation in the recent Face in Video Evaluation (FIVE) testing performed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

NIST released the results in its Interagency Report 8173: Face In Video Evaluation (FIVE) Face Recognition of Non-Cooperative Subjects.

The company’s face recognition technology achieved the top ranking for the fourth consecutive time following the 2009 Multiple Biometric Grand Challenge (MBGC 2009), 2010-2011 Multiple Biometrics Evaluation (MBE 2010-2011), and 2013 Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT 2013).

Video face recognition technology identifies the faces of people walking in real-time in front of a camera without prompting them to stop.

The high-speed video analysis offers several benefits including the prevention of potential incidents through detection of suspicious individuals and recognition of people at the entrance of critical facilities.

To achieve reliable face recognition of a video image, NEC developed feature point extraction technology that enables improved face recognition capabilities which can identify individuals from within a group, even if their face is partially obstructed, or the image is taken from different angles.

The advanced face recognition technology also uses deep learning technologies for face matching to significantly improve accuracy to a level where a person can be identified by a low resolution face image captured by a distant camera.

“It is a great honor that our face recognition technology received a first place evaluation for the fourth consecutive time from the NIST,” said Masakazu Yamashina, senior vice president of NEC Corporation. “We will further expand global business by offering innovative biometric solutions, such as the video face recognition system, throughout a wide range of fields, including security, transportation, finance and retail.”

One evaluation example from the NIST FIVE testing involved an entry-exit management system at an airport passenger gate, whereby NEC’s technology achieved a 99.2 percent matching accuracy and an error rate of 0.8 percent.

Another test involved the detection of suspicious individuals at an indoor stadium where testers an individual was positioned far from the camera with their face direction changing frequently. For this test, NEC’s face recognition technology ranked first with an error rate half that of the second place error rate.

NEC’s face recognition technology has already been implemented in more than 100 systems in 40 countries worldwide.

The company said it will continue to develop solutions that leverage face recognition technology as part of its portfolio of AI technologies, NEC the Wise.

In December, Frost & Sullivan recognized NEC with its Best Practice Award for Company of the Year for its NeoFace facial recognition software and the company’s strong adoption and performance in the government and public sector market.

Article Topics

biometric matching  |  biometric testing  |  biometrics  |  Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT)  |  facial recognition  |  NEC  |  NIST