Making the most of single sensor information : a novel fusion approach for 3D face recognition using region covariance descriptors and Gaussian mixture models

Križaj, Janez (author), Dobrišek, Simon (author), Štruc, Vitomir (author)

Most commercially successful face recognition systems combine information from multiple sensors (2D and 3D, visible light and infrared, etc.) to achieve reliable recognition in various environments. When only a single sensor is available, the robustness as well as efficacy of the recognition process suffer. In this paper, we focus on face recognition using images captured by a single 3D sensor and propose a method based on the use of region covariance matrixes and Gaussian mixture models (GMMs). All steps of the proposed framework are automated, and no metadata, such as pre-annotated eye, nose, or mouth positions is required, while only a very simple clustering-based face detection is performed. The framework computes a set of region covariance descriptors from local regions of different face image representations and then uses the unscented transform to derive low-dimensional feature vectors, which are finally modeled by GMMs. In the last step, a support vector machine classification scheme is used to make a decision about the identity of the input 3D facial image. The proposed framework has several desirable characteristics, such as an inherent mechanism for data fusion/integration (through the region covariance matrixes), the ability to explore facial images at different levels of locality, and the ability to integrate a domain-specific prior knowledge into the modeling procedure. Several normalization techniques are incorporated into the proposed framework to further improve performance. Extensive experiments are performed on three prominent databases (FRGC v2, CASIA, and UMB-DB) yielding competitive results.

• Language: English
• Keywords: biometrics, computer vision, 3D face recognition, fusion, covariance descriptors, face recognition, 3D images, local descriptors, statistical models
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 26 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 22, iss. 6, art. 2388
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-137514
• UDC: 004.93:57.087.1
• ISSN on article: 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s22062388
• COBISS.SI-ID: 101606403
• Publication date in RUL: 20.06.2022

KRIŽAJ, Janez, DOBRIŠEK, Simon and ŠTRUC, Vitomir, 2022, Making the most of single sensor information : a novel fusion approach for 3D face recognition using region covariance descriptors and Gaussian mixture models. Sensors [online]. 2022. Vol. 22, no. 6,  2388. [Accessed 11 April 2025]. DOI 10.3390/s22062388. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=137514

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sensors
• Shortened title: Sensors
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1424-8220
• COBISS.SI-ID: 10176278

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 20.03.2022

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: biometrija, računalniški vid, 3D razpoznavanje obrazov, fuzija, kovariančni opisniki

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P2-0250
• Name: Metrologija in biometrični sistemi