This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will enable Physical Optics Corporation (POC) to build a highly robust and adaptive face recognition system called the Opto-electronic Intelligent Face Recognition System (OIFRS). This system will uniquely combine an artificial neural network and an optical joint transform correlator (JTC) to increase invariance to distortion, shift, scale, and facial expression. In Phase I, we conducted a concept feasibility study and demonstration, developing an optical face recognition system. In Phase II, POC will implement a parallel optical JTC to increase processing speed, accommodate a large number of training patterns, and enhance scalability. POC will design, develop, and implement an innovative, adaptive, nonlinear, self-aligned pseudo-phase-conjugate joint Fourier-Fresnel transform correlator, which will make recognition highly invariant to longitudinal translation and tilt of the input face, and to head position. The proposed innovative OIFRS technology will lead not only to a new robust face recognition system but also to a variety of other security systems with high dual use application potential.
OIFRS versatility will benefit not only the national security concerns of DOE, DoD, and other agencies that require highly secure access control, but also commercial access control, and credit card verification.
