NEC Corporation of America (NEC), is pleased to announce their NeoFace Express facial recognition solution, a key component of a rapid-access biometric platform, has been nominated in the 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Competition.
Launched in early 2017, NEC’s NeoFace Express facial recognition solution is a key component of a rapid-access biometric platform currently in pilots at key international airports with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including Atlanta, Houston, Washington, D.C. and more.
The solution is based on NEC’s world-renowned NeoFace facial recognition technology, which earlier this year performed ranked first in tests performed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the fourth consecutive time.
(NeoFace for access control, is the world fastest and most accurate face recognition technology. Courtesy of NEC Corporation and YouTube)
Public safety is a growing problem all over the world – and requires key enabling technologies that promote information sharing and open communication among public safety agencies.
Biometric identification – through fingerprint, vein or facial recognition – is the fastest and most accurate way to promote public safety (and prevent crime) without sacrificing service levels for citizens.
(NEC, the World’s No. 1 Face Recognition Solution, NeoFace. Courtesy of NEC Corporation and YouTube)
Video face recognition technology identifies the faces of moving subjects in real-time as they walk naturally without stopping in front of a camera.
The benefits of high-speed video analysis enabled by this technology include the prevention of potential incidents through detection of suspicious individuals and recognition of individuals at the gateways of critical facilities.
Using video images from standard cameras for face recognition requires highly-advanced techniques when compared to still images.
This is because images are greatly influenced by environmental conditions, such as camera location, image quality, lighting and subject size, in addition to the behavior of a subject, including walking speed, face direction and sight line.
To achieve reliable face recognition of a video image, NEC developed feature point extraction technology that:
- Enables enhanced face recognition to a level where an individual can be identified with high precision from within a group
- Even if their face is partially hidden
- Or the image is taken from different angles
NEC’s face recognition technology also uses deep learning technologies for face matching to increase accuracy to a level where an individual can be identified by a low resolution face image captured by a distant camera.
NeoFace Express with high throughput capabilities serves demanding environments with large crowds of people.
NEC’s highly accurate and scalable NeoFace facial recognition technologies enable NeoFace Express to eliminate long queues and improve customer experiences by quickly verifying identities and authenticating membership prior to admittance.
Locations with entry points benefit from the speed and precision of NEC’s facial recognition capabilities.
NeoFace Express offers
- Rapid access eliminates long queues and improves user experiences.
- Assurance of accurately identifying travelers embarking and disembarking all modes of transportation.
- Widely available standard commercial off-the-shelf hardware and industry-standard software deliver high performing solutions at competitive prices
- Based on a highly scalable and modular service-oriented architecture (SOA) for simple integration into existing infrastructure and workflows, ongoing support, and future expansion.
Additional Advantages
Proven ability to accurately match low quality and poorly lit facial images, enabling use in wide ranging environmental conditions.
- Capable of capturing face images at tight angles, and in difficult lighting conditions.
- Even capable of capturing face images in near total darkness.
- Proven ability to match poor quality facial images, including images with low resolutions down to 24 pixels between the eyes.
Enabling Better Outcomes
With NeoFace Express, customers enjoy fast access, while business and government agencies benefit from increased revenue opportunities and security through quickly verifying identities and authenticating membership associations.
NIST Validated
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) matching algorithm recognition benchmarks have consistently proven that NEC’s biometric technologies have the fastest and most accurate face and fingerprint recognition algorithm and have the most resilient facial recognition technologies to viewing low angles, low resolution images and poor image quality.
NEC Corporation’s face recognition technology has achieved the highest performance evaluation in the recent Face in Video Evaluation (FIVE) performed by NIST.
Results were released in NIST’s Interagency Report 8173: Face In Video Evaluation (FIVE) Face Recognition of Non-Cooperative Subjects.
Evaluation examples from the NIST FIVE testing
Entry-exit management at an airport passenger gate
- Tests were conducted to recognize one individual at a time as they walk through an area without stopping or acknowledging the camera.
- NEC’s face recognition technology won first place with a matching accuracy of 99.2%.
- The error rate of 0.8% is less than one-fourth of the second place error rate.
Detection of suspicious individuals at an indoor stadium
- Tests were conducted with an individual situated far from the camera with their face direction changing frequently.
- NEC’s face recognition technology won first place with an error rate half that of the second place error rate.
Additionally, NEC’s technology took first place 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).
(Discover how NEC’s world-leading facial recognition technology can be applied for visitor registration & access control and see how our Welcome Kiosk can add value across a range of private and public sector organizations. Courtesy of NEC Corporation and YouTube)
NEC Corporation at a Glance
For nearly 30 years, NEC has been developing face recognition technology by defining it as one of the key technologies to help achieve a safer and more secure society.
The technology has now been implemented in more than 100 systems in 40 countries worldwide.
NEC will continue to develop solutions that leverage face recognition technology as part of its portfolio of AI technologies “NEC the Wise” (*3), and to deliver the solutions for a wide range of fields, including social infrastructure and private sector facilities.
NEC’s award-winning public safety solutions are used in 40-plus countries (and increasingly in India) – by governments, and public and private institutions – to safeguard lives and property, both in the real and virtual worlds.
(Learn More about NEC Corporation, and clearly view a future image of a new value creation which is achieved by cooperation of Internet of Things (IoT) getting into full swing, Systems of Engagement (SoE) which produces a new value from relations of human, things and events and systems of Records to support business activity. Courtesy of NEC Corporation and YouTube)
NEC’s NeoFace Express in 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program
The 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, is organized to recognize the most distinguished vendors of Physical, IT, Port Security, Law Enforcement, First Responders, (Fire, EMT, Military, Support Services Vets, SBA, Medical Tech) as well as the Federal, State, County and Municipal Government Agencies – to acknowledge their outstanding efforts to ‘Keep our Nation Secure, One City at a Time.’
As an ‘ASTORS’ competitor, NEC’s NeoFace Express will be competing against the industry’s leading providers of Innovative Facial, IRIS, Biometric Recognition System Solutions.
Good luck to NEC NeoFace Express on becoming a Winner of the 2017 American Security Today’s Homeland Security Awards Program!
To learn more about the Nec’s NeoFace Express, go to https://www.necam.com/AdvancedRecognitionSystems/Products/FacialRecognition/Solutions/NeoFaceExpress/, or to view NEC Corporations full range of Advanced Recognition Systems, visit the companies website at http://www.necam.com/ARS
