New development of the US military will allow for facial recognition in the dark

[Tomcat]

The US Army will spend more than $ 4.5 million to develop facial recognition technology in the dark by processing thermal radiation from the face. The technology must operate in the dark and at a distance of up to 500 meters, according to contracts posted in the federal cost database.

Facial recognition technology is already used by the military to identify people on the battlefield, but it is usually based on images from standard CCTV cameras. The new development will allow infrared images to be analyzed to identify people.

“The sensors should show good results even in difficult conditions - when the face is visible through the windshield or when the target is darkened due to bad weather, for example, in fog,” the US Department of Defense said.

The military is demanding that the technology be built into a small device that can be carried by a person, and it must also be able to work from 10 to 500 meters and match people's faces with a database.

The technology development is overseen by the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency, which is part of the US Department of Defense, under the leadership of Cyan Systems, Inc. and Polaris Sensor Technologies. Both companies are involved in infrared imaging technologies.