Face Detection Software. (Open Source) code about detecting faces via image processing algorithms. Facial recognition API, SDK and face login apps. A facial recognition system is a computer application capable of identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source. One of the ways to do this is by comparing selected facial features from the image and a face database.

IStockphoto Anyone who has seen the show 'Las Vegas' has seen facial recognition software in action. In any given episode, the security department at the fictional Montecito Hotel and Casino uses its video surveillance system to pull an image of a card counter, thief or blacklisted individual. It then runs that image through the database to find a match and identify the person. By the end of the hour, all bad guys are escorted from the or thrown in jail. But what looks so easy on TV doesn't always translate as well in the real world. In 2001, the Tampa Police Department installed equipped with facial recognition technology in their Ybor City nightlife district in an attempt to cut down on crime in the area.

The system failed to do the job, and it was scrapped in 2003 due to ineffectiveness. People in the area were seen wearing masks and making obscene gestures, prohibiting the cameras from getting a clear enough shot to identify anyone. Boston's Logan Airport also ran two separate tests of facial recognition systems at its security checkpoints using volunteers. Over a three month period, the results were disappointing. According to the, the system only had a 61.4 percent accuracy rate, leading airport officials to pursue other security options. Humans have always had the innate ability to recognize and distinguish between faces, yet computers only recently have shown the same ability.

In the mid 1960s, scientists began work on using the to recognize human faces. Since then, facial recognition software has come a long way. In this article, we will look at the history of facial recognition systems, the changes that are being made to enhance their capabilities and how governments and private companies use (or plan to use) them.

History of Facial Recognition Software 1960’s First semi-automated system The first semi-automated facial recognition programs were created by Woody Bledsoe, Helen Chan Wolf, and Charles Bisson. Their programs required the administrator to locate features such as the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth on the photograph. It then calculated distances and ratios to a common reference point which was then compared to reference data. Ahanghaye Hayedeh. 1970’s Goldstein, Harmon, and Lesk Used 21 specific subjective markers, such as hair color and lip thickness, to automate the recognition. The measurements and locations needed to be manually computed, causing the program to require a lot of labor time. 1988 Kirby and Sirovich Applied principle component analysis, a standard linear algebra technique, to the face recognition problem.

Considered a milestone because it showed that less than one hundred values were required to accurately code a suitable aligned and normalized face. 1991 Turk and Pentland Discovered that while using the eigenfaces techniques, the residual error could be used to detect faces in images, a discovery that enabled reliable real-time automated face recognition systems.