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Biometrics (Gr.: bios life, metron measure) came into contemporary use as a term that distinguishes two very different fields of study. The field typically analyzes physical and behavioral characteristics.
• Traditional biological studies have collected, synthesized, and managed quantitative data on biological communities (e.g., forests. This application is most often referred to as biological statistics.
• The term broadened to include the study of methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical traits. The physical can include DNA databases, facial patterns, fingerprints, hand measurements, iris recognition, and retinal scans.
A biometric system can provide:
• Verification to authenticate users with a smart card, username or ID number. A biometric template is captured and stored against the registered user either on a smart card or database for verification.
• Authentication of users from the biometric characteristic alone without the use of smart cards, usernames or ID numbers. The biometric template is compared to all records within the database and a score returns that indicates it is the closest match. If the match is the closest within an allowed threshold, the individual is considered identified and authenticated.
Public concern has grown with increased awareness of biometrics.
• Some believe the instruments used are unsanitary or the technologies involved can cause physical harm. For example, there are concerns that retina scanners might not always be clean.
• There are peceptions that biometrics can be used in unauthorized ways without the individual's consent. Personal information can be misused, tampered with, or sold (e.g., by criminals stealing, rearranging or copying the data).
Behaviometrics. Biometrics has been extended even further to include behavioral characteristics. The term behaviometrics is a composite for behavioral biometrics, where the analysis can be done continuously without interrupting or interfering with the user's activities.
Examples include signature, mouse gestures, and typing patterns (rhythm).
Mysuru, Karnataka, India. Technologies that measure and analyze human physical and behavioral characteristics are big when machines have to figure out who you are on behalf of their human creators. There is ample precedent: we all cope with encountering new people and try to understand who you are, really.
The emerging field of biometrics typically analyzes physical and behavioral characteristics. The physical can include DNA databases, facial patterns, fingerprints, hand measurements, iris recognition, and retinal scans. Examples of mostly behavioral characteristics include signature and typing patterns.
Comprehensive framework to gait recognition. Nandini C. and Ravi Kumar, C.N. (2008). International Journal of Biometrics 1(1) 129 - 137. doi: 10.1504 / IJBM.2008.018667 [ Download PDF ]
But at first encounter, others view us by obvious externals, often by the way we walk (our gait). A team of researchers in India have been working on an expanded form of biometrics that could allow law enforcement agencies and airport security to recognize suspects based on their characteristic gait. The team has revealed details of a comprehensive framework for gait recognition by computer.
… drastic changes in clothing adversely affect recognition performance …
Viewed from the side, we each have a unique gait that makes us easily recognizable. The researchers point out that a camera with a side view can record a set of key frames, or stances, as a person heads for the security desk at an airport, military installation or bank, for instance. Key frames over the person's complete walk cycle, can then be converted into silhouette form and statistical analysis using so-called Shannon entropy.
Measuring random variables involves a recognition of the uncertainty associated with the result. Shannon entropy (or information entropy) measures the uncertainty associated with a random variable and quantifies the information contained in a message. It is the minimum message length necessary to communicate information. The output of the statistical analysis, together with height measurements and the periodicity of the gait, are used to classify the person's gait.
The gait of individuals checking in at an airport could then be compared with the database, perhaps even before they enter the airport concourse. Such data compared with footage from closed-circuit television (CCTV) might also be used to track suspect terrorists or criminals who may otherwise be disguising their features or be carrying forged documents.
The researchers emphasize that gait recognition has a significant advantage over more well-known biometrics, such as fingerprinting and iris scanning. Observaton and analysis of a persn't gait is entirely unobtrusive and can be used to identify an individual potentially from a considerable distance. "The ability to identify a possible threat from a distance gives personnel a longer time frame in which to react before a possible suspect becomes a real threat," the researchers say.
The research team carried out initial tests on 20 people who were recorded walking in a straight line at normal speed and stride. The subjects walked back and forth in front of a video camera placed perpendicular to their path. The researchers obtained good recognition rates using the Shannon entropy equation and the individuals' height.
Bsed on this and prior work, Nandini and Ravi Kumar propose a comprehensive framework to incorporate gait into biometric system. The new component integrates the silhouettes extracted for gait recognition (represented by Shannon entropy) with the height and periodicity features. Performance improvements integrate multiple cues with different confidence measures.
The researchers used simple sums of output probabilities (X1, X2, X3) of the standalone classifiers. The method was tested on two different databases and the experimental results demonstrate that the new system performs well when compared to moment-based features. Technically, the recognition rates were found to be good when the decision fusion is taken by combining Shannon entropy H(p(x)│x € X) with the height and periodicity features.
While cultural influences can obscure the individuality of our gait, focused study still depends on our shared anatomy (inherently cross-cultural). However, drastic changes in clothing adversely affects recognition performance. Recognition performance of the system was sensitive to changes in big viewing angle above ten degrees but was reasonably robust even when the individuals changed walking speed.
Both of the primary investigators conduct research in the field of pattern recognition, image processing, and biometrics. Their papers appear in a variety of recognized international conferences and journals.
Comprehensive framework to gait recognition. Nandini C. and Ravi Kumar, C.N. (2008). International Journal of Biometrics 1(1) 129 - 137. doi: 10.1504 / IJBM.2008.018667 [ Download PDF ]
Abstract
Human gait is a spatio-temporal phenomenon and typifies the motion characteristics of an individual. The gait of a person is easily recognisable when extracted from a side view of the person. Accordingly, gait-recognition algorithms work best when presented with images where the person walks parallel to the camera (i.e. the image plane). A set of stances or key frames that occur during the walk cycle of an individual is chosen. This paper presents a novel approach adopted in automatic gait recognition in which the silhouette extracted is represented using Shannon entropy and extracts the height of the subject and periodicity of the gait. To classify unknown gait, they need to match the nearest neighbour in the stored database of extracted gait features, and the proposed approach are tested on the data sets and is found to be quite satisfactory in natural walk conditions. In addition, the proposed decision fusion enables the performance improvement by integrating multiple ones with different confidence measures.
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... just the fact that someone has gender dysphoria does not mean that they are a feminist or that they are aware of queer politics and I think there are still many people who think of themselves as transsexuals who just want the right to live ordinary lives.
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