| Dr Kevin Gates |
 |
| A face is converted by his software into a series of characteristics which can be recognised by security cameras. |
A Queensland researcher's internationally acclaimed facial recognition software is set to streamline building security.
The concept of using digital video camera images to verify or identify people for security purposes has been around since the late 1980s. But development of the technology went into overdrive after September 11, 2001 and today, there is a worldwide race to perfect a system that is fast, accurate, portable and cost-effective.
A key player in that race is Dr Kevin Gates, a computational scientist at the University of Queensland's School of Physical Sciences and the Advanced Computational Modelling Centre. Dr Gates was selected as one of only 20 international finalists in the 2005 Face Recognition Vendor Test, sponsored by the US Government and held in San Diego, California.
His innovative facial recognition software dramatically reduces the time taken by a computer to recognise individuals from their facial characteristics.
"It will greatly enhance existing technologies used in border security, surveillance and anti-terrorism," Dr Gates said.
"Facial recognition recognises the overall facial structure, including the sizes and distances between the eyes, nose, mouth, and other facial characteristics. These characteristics are retained in a database and used as a comparison when a user is caught on camera."
Dr Gates is also working on developing a smart camera which holds a memory bank of people so that "desirable" and "undesirable" people can be quickly identified.
UQ's technology transfer company UniQuest has patented Dr Gates' software and is packaging it with several related innovations for commercialisation.
UniQuest Managing Director, David Henderson, said the technology had the potential to outperform currently available technologies with increased speed and accuracy.
"Since 9-11, governments, international security agencies and even retail outlets have implemented systems for accurately and rapidly identifying people using portable technologies so we believe Dr Gates' software is of significant importance," Mr Henderson said.
UniQuest is seeking investment to take Dr Gates' software to the market.
Raised in Washington DC, Kevin Gates completed a doctoral degree at the University of Washington in Seattle before working at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He was enticed to Queensland 11 years ago and has worked on applications of computational algorithms while associated with the University of Queensland.
Last reviewed 19 January 2006