IHF Roundup: Airports Ponder Universal Access Control, Researchers Design 'Wearable' Robots & Other Top Headlines This Week

Here's a quick rundown of the headlines that caught my eye this week (click on the links to check out the articles in full):

Airport credentials: What's going to happen?
SecureIDNews
Zack Martin

• How airports identify employees has been a concern since 9/11 and other incidents have shown that there are potential security vulnerabilities. The Transportation Security Administration is working on a specification for airport access control systems that would use biometrics and smart cards. The specification calls for an interoperable credential that could be read at airports throughout the country.
• The incident pointed to most often when it comes to better securing credentials at airports is an incident at O’Hare International Airport in 2007. In that case, 23 employees from a staff-outsourcing firm were using ID cards from employees who had quit.
  
• There are already a number of different projects running -- The TSA has the Airport Credential Interoperability Specification (ACIS) and the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) created the Biometric Airport Security Identification Consortium (BASIC). The AAAE is working with the TSA on its efforts. Too many acronyms if you ask me.

Wearable bot said to make you stronger
CNET (Crave Blog)
Leslie Katz

• Through a sensor attached to the skin, "HAL" (Hybrid Assistive Limb) captures faint biosignals on the skin's surface that result from messages sent from the brain to muscles when a person attempts to move. A computer analyzes how much power the wearer intends to generate, then calculates the amount of torque needed to put limbs into action.
• Especially noteworthy here is that the suit responds to intended motion, rather than actual motion.
• "HAL" is currently being used by people in Japan with weakened muscles and disabilities related to strokes and/or spinal cord injuries. It's also expected to report for heavy-labor duty support at factories, as well as rescue support at disaster sites.
• Do they come in different colors and/or patterns?

Noise from our ears a basis for biometrics
ZDNet
Chris Jablonski

• The concept is based on otoacoustic emissions (OAE), which are sounds emitted by the mammalian inner ear in response to an audio stimulation.
• According to the researchers, OAEs offer some unique opportunities when applied as a biometric system. For one, it can be embodied as a telephone handset or headphones, which is something everyone is familiar with. And secondly, it can be employed in a challenge-response dialogue.
• However, watch out for waxy build-up and BAC level after a night out on the town -- with both, emissions are deadened. Also, different drugs alter the amplitude of OAEs.
  

How Kiva Robots Help Zappos and Walgreens
BusinessWeek
Jessie Scanlon

• Robots have been around a long time, but what's interesting about Kiva, which has four patents, with another 14 pending, is the way in which Kiva Founder and CEO Mick Mountz's team has integrated three technologies: WiFi, digital cameras, and low-cost servers capable of parallel processing.
  
• The servers work in real-time, receiving orders, immediately dispatching robots to bring the required pods to the worker fulfilling the order, and then returning the pods to their storage locations. The robots receive their orders wirelessly, while using cameras to read navigational barcode stickers on the warehouse floor.
• Roughly 20% of the 8,000 commercial U.S. warehouses are automated, including Walgreens and Zappos, meaning that after workers pull goods off of the shelves, they are put on conveyer belts, carousels, and/or other automatic sorting systems that move the products through the warehouse more efficiently.

Alaska introduces bill protecting citizens’ biometric data
ThirdFactor

• Alaskan state senator, Bill Wielechowski, has introduced a bill to the state congress that intends to protect Alaskan citizens from having their biometric information collected or used without their knowing and consent.
• The congressman’s hope is that the bill will assuage fears over the misuse of biometric information such as potential employers using DNA samples to determine one’s tendency towards certain ailments or the tracking of citizens via facial recognition and video surveillance.

Cameras, sensors spark government surveillance debate
Democrat & Chronicle
Brian Sharp

• The Rochester (NY) Police Department's reliance on data-crunching computers and license-plate reading scanners triggered a backlash this week from a citizens group called Activists Against Racism Movement.
• In a statement to the media, the group labeled the targeted enforcement a "dragnet" and "absolutely racist in nature," predicting that it will predominately snare minorities for minor offenses.
• Doubt remains about whether the technology actually prevents crime, or just relocates it. People do tend to feel safer, experts say. Witnesses are more likely to cooperate with police if they think a camera also caught the action, and so property crime declines, but research has yet to document a corresponding drop in violent crime.

Plus, don't forget to scroll down and check out 3VR's anouncement around our technology's performance in recent South Korea NPA/SK Networks facial recognition technology testing. More details coming soon.

South Korean Study Delivers a Face Rec First (90%+ Accuracy Using Surveillance Video)

Those following the South Korean government’s most recent biometric initiative know it to be one of the most ambitious facial recognition testing and deployment projects ever conceived. The project, in its various phases, has been featured quite extensively on Korean television here and here.

Under the project, the Korean National Police (NPA) sought to deploy facial recognition technology against Seoul’s plentiful video surveillance cameras, both to generate alerts to the presence of targeted individuals, as well as provide a mechanism to quickly search city surveillance archives for persons identified after the fact.

Though the NPA has been quite public on its facial recognition project in general, details regarding the specific technologies and testing results have been closely guarded. However, today after much anticipation, the NPA has finally made its initial findings public. According to the NPA and SK Networks spokesmen, 3VR's facial recognition platform demonstrated the highest percentage of accuracy of any of the eight tested technologies in trials run by the NPA and its testing partner, South Korea's IT giant SK Networks.

Indeed the results, at around 90% accuracy, would seem far better than those achieved in any previous public video facial recognition study. After a grueling multi-year testing process, in 3VR SmartRecorders and SmartCams provided between 85 percent and 92 percent accuracy in recognizing and matching faces in a few crowded, highly-trafficked public train stations in Seoul. In each case, the images analyzed were of fast-moving groups of commuters entering or exiting various transit areas en masse.

Said Sung-Ho Kong of SK Networks:

“In 2008, we performed a live, uncontrolled test of 3VR's facial recognition technology in Seoul subway stations, where the solution was an impressive 85-92 percent accurate, depending on conditions. No other solution approached this level of accuracy, vastly improving our ability to track, find and thwart crime in subways and other highly populated areas, which had previously proven extremely difficult to monitor.”

To better appreciate just how impressive the NPA’s results are, we need to compare them to the best previous facial recognition study. In 2006-2007, a similar facial recognition-use case was evaluated by the German Federal Police. After months of testing in a German subway with lighting and traffic much more controlled than in South Korea, a mediocre 60 percent accuracy rating was achieved.

The improvements in accuracy afforded by 3VR are the result of a unique approach to video facial recognition. While most face rec vendors offer technologies optimized for the comparison of flat, normally lit, passport-style photos, only 3VR's software was built from the ground up to address many of the unique challenges presented by real-time surveillance video.

According to Tim Frederick, director of engineering at 3VR:

“This study demonstrates the breakthrough power of 3VR’s patented facial surveillance technology. Unlike other attempts at high-volume face surveillance, which re-purposed still-image face recognition algorithms, the South Korean study benefited from 3VR’s end-to-end video analysis system, specifically designed for this type of demanding video application.”

Expect more details from 3VR and the NPA shortly, but in the meantime, please check out SDN's Rhianna Daniels' feature story on the announcement, as well as a quick diagram of how the technology works and even some up-close and personal screen grabs of the UI.

UPDATE June 22, 2009:

Here is a translation of the South Korean National Police's Phase 1 testing results: