Speech Technology Center updates facial recognition for optimal identification of masked faces

Speech Technology Center (SPC) has updated the Smart Tracker FRS biometric system to identify people with masked faces for applications related to the pandemic outbreak.

Smart Tracker FRS is used in 14 athletic and 24 transport facilities, and in 5 safe city projects. The company recently announced a deployment of its facial recognition technology at Moscow’s VTB Arena.

Speech Technology Center Biometrics Division Business Development Manager Andrey Khrulev says the facial recognition product was developed with local aspects taken into account, such as difficult weather conditions prompting people to wear hoods, glasses, or high collars.

“When creating our product, we already took into account particular local aspects such as difficult weather conditions in places where people wear glasses, hoods, high collars; bad weather, low light levels and narrow field of view, and a wide range of angles,” comments Khrulev. “In this respect, a mask is just another specific condition for which our biometric system is prepared; recognition works by employing a neural network algorithm that analyses the available facial area, rather than comparing the location of key points. Thus, a face being covered up to 70 percent is a significant factor, but not a game-breaker for the system.”

Khrulev says the system can be used to locate quarantined individuals, track their interactions, and identify other potentially infected people. The company also touts the value of non-contact access control systems based on facial recognition.

“Previously, such implementations were justified by security considerations such as identifying and preventing intruders, then, by the demand for a new level of comfort that requires seamless, fast passage, and in the current reality, the focus has once again shifted to security, only now it concerns healthcare, namely minimising contacts during the ongoing epidemic situation,” adds Dmitriy Dyrmovskiy, CEO of Speech Technology Сenter. “Cutting-edge technologies have made it all possible, and we will continue to improve our products, contributing to the stabilisation of the current global situation.”

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  SpeechPro