New facial detection system claims 10 times better image resolution
16 Feb 2025
Creators of a newly developed detection system say it provides accurate human facial detection over distances up to 1 kilometre.
The light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system produces high-resolution three-dimensional images with double the efficiency of similar systems being developed by other research groups, and 10 times better image resolution, they claim.
Not only is the system capable of recognising specific activity over extreme distance but also through obstructions such as fog or camouflage.
The project was a three-way collaboration between three universities in Scotland and the US.
It included Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh’s Single Photon Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow.
Quantum photonics expert professor Gerald Buller led the Heriot-Watt team, using equipment originally developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Buller’s colleague Heriot-Watt research fellow and optical and optomechanical design specialist Dr Aongus McCarthy was lead author of the research published in the journal Optica.
Commented McCarthy: “The results of our research show the enormous potential of such a system to construct detailed high-resolution 3D images of scenes from long distances in daylight or darkness conditions.
“For example, if someone is standing behind camouflage netting, this system has the potential to determine whether they are on their mobile phone, holding something, or just standing there idle. So, there are a number of potential applications from a security and defence perspective.”
While such systems employ laser light pulses to measure the distances to objects, the researchers were able to refine this.
They were able to measure the time it took for a pulse to travel to the object and back to an accuracy of c13 picoseconds (with a picosecond equalling one trillionth of a second) – 10 times better than previously achieved.
“The timing is really phenomenal. It allows us to measure variations in depth very, very accurately – on a millimetre scale – which means we can distinguish between closely separated surfaces at very long distances,” said McCarthy.
Pic: Facial imaging scan of research co-author Gregor Taylor from 45 metres.
