Towards Unattended and Privacy Protected Border Control

Biometric data have been integrated in all new European passports, since the member states of the European Union started to implement the EU Council Regulation No 2252/2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports. The additional integration of three-dimensional facial models promises significant performance enhancements for border control applications. By combining the geometry-and texture-channel information of the face, 3D face recognition systems provide improved robustness while being able to handle variations in poses and problematic lighting conditions during image acquisition. To assess the potential of three-dimensional face recognition, the 3D Face Integrated Project was initiated as part of the European Framework Program for collaborative research in April 2006. This paper outlines the research objectives and the approach of this project: Not only shall the recognition performance be increased but also a new, fake-resistant acquisition system is to be developed. In addition, methods for protection of the stored template data in the biometric reference are under development to enhance the privacy and security of the overall system. The use of multi-biometrics is also a key feature of the 3D Face project addressing the performance, robustness and flexibility targets of the system.