Face recognition using genetic algorithm based template matching

We present a face recognition method using template matching. Template matching is performed with the help of a genetic algorithm to automatically test several positions around the target and also adjust the size of the template as the matching process progresses. We use two kinds of templates for each face. One is based on edge detection and the other depends on the YIQ color information from the face. Our template is a T-shaped region symmetrical between the eyes, covering both eyes, the nose and mouth. Our features of interest to achieve face recognition are therefore the eyes, nose and the mouth. We ignore the shape of the face so as to have a small template for faster matching and also because the effect of the shape does not result in a significant increase in the overall final accuracy. We conducted a simulation experiment to verify our idea and also did a comparative experiment using a distance measure face recognition method.