Finally, the long awaited Beijing Olympic Games 2008 begun.During the opening ceremony tens of thousands of people move in a very orderly fashion through more than 100 audience gateways designed by AuthenMetric’s rapid face recognition system.? After unremitting efforts, scientists and researchers from AuthenMetric Technology Co. Ltd and the Center for Biometrics and Security Research, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences realized their dream of creating a safe environment for the Olympic Games with their innovative technology. China owns independently the intellectual property rights of this face recognition system which has withstood the most rigorous test and scrutiny prior to the Olympic Games opening ceremony. It also set a precedent for the usage of face recognition technology in the Olympic Games.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics is a big event for China and the world. It is the largest scale Olympics, with the highest standards in the history of the Olympic Games. However, with the international security situation tightened in recent years, and targeted towards increasing terrorist dangers, the 2008 Beijing Olympics Security faced many new challenges. Therefore, efficient, rapid and accurate person identification, early detection of suspicious individuals, and early-warning security warnings and measures are being used as effective means to counter terrorist activities.

Under the concept of “Hi-tech Olympics” and “Safe Olympics”, scientists and researchers from Digital AuthenMetric Technology Co.Ltd. and the Center for Biometrics and Security Research,Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences innovatively applied China’s independent intellectual property right, internationally introducing such advanced technology-human face recognition systems into Olympic Games. This is the first time such leading-edge technology has been used in the security of the Olympics as an intelligent means of personal identification of its visitors.
This human face recognition system has redefined the identity checking by comparing real-name checking of the ticket holders and people’s real identity during the opening and closing ceremonies, and provided support for the Olympics security and important data for people’s admission purposes.

The Beijing Olympic committee used real-names on the tickets to manage identity of the holders. The ticket holders were asked to submit some personal information and identity photos as a means of eliminating potential security vulnerabilities and enhancing the Olympic security level, andas anti-terrorism measure. Human face recognition is the most natural, visual, and innovative way of biological identification. It will recognize the human physiological visual habits just as human beings recognize others by their faces and has the potential to become very pervasive.

After much research and exploration, scientists from the AuthenMetric and Center for Biometrics and Security Research developed the high-performance face recognition technology integrated with RFID Radio Frequency card technology; customizing towards a rapid personal identification system specifically for the Beijing Olympics. It worked as a first line of defense for the Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies and verified ticket holders’ identity through a real-name system of ticket holders.

The system first scanned the identity photos submitted by the ticket holders, acquired facial features and input these into an information database. At the entrance, system recorded the picture of the ticket holders with a video camera and compared them with the previously entered image data from the database. Real ticket holders will be given access while the fraudulent ticket holders will be transferred to the relevant departments. The system can adapt to different environmental light variants, such as direct sunlight at dusk and light during all other times of the day.

The system can be widely applied to occasions where personal identification is required. Such occasions may include: large-scale sports events, ports, airports, scenic spots, major conference entrances, student examinations, government agencies and entrance control in enterprises, etc.

The leading scientist of this project is Doctor Stan Li- the researcher with the Center for Biometrics and Security Research, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Through nearly a year’s hard work, Dr. Li has led his highly qualified team in the completion, development, design and implementation of the face recognition comparison system. Aerospace Changfeng Group, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, the North Branch era, industrial control of the Northern China and Huifeng Enterprise were also involved in this project.