Assessing Face Acquisition

Published

September 15, 2008

Author(s)

Mary F. Theofanos, Brian C. Stanton, Charles L. Sheppard, Ross J. Micheals, John M. Libert, Shahram Orandi

Abstract

The requirements necessary for taking a successful face picture are arguably the least constrained of any biometric. The camera must be operational, and the subject must be illuminated sufficiently and facing the camera. Yet, a significant portion of the faces taken at United States ports of entry are unusable for the purposes of automatic face recognition. In this paper, we consider the usability components of the face image capture process that contribute to the relatively high ratio of unusable images collected by United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT). In addition, we introduce a general evaluation methodology—including the use of a simple image overlay—to quantify various characteristics of face imagery. The experimental context mimicked the point-of-entry environment, but with specific usability enhancements. The collected data suggests that these usability enhancements may be used to improve face image capture with equipment that is capable of capturing faces with a near-zero failure-to-enroll (FTE) rate.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 7540

Report Number

7540

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

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Keywords

face image quality, human factors, usability

Citation

Theofanos, M. , Stanton, B. , Sheppard, C. , Micheals, R. , Libert, J. and Orandi, S. (2008), Assessing Face Acquisition, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=890071 (Accessed October 13, 2025)