Journal of Applied Computer Science & Mathematics, no.

11 (5) /2011, Suceava

53


Face Recognition using Gabor Filters

1
Muhammad SHARIF,
2
Adeel KHALID,
3
Mudassar RAZA,
4
Sajjad MOHSIN
Department of Computer Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Wah Cantt-Pakistan
1
muhammadsharifmalik@yahoo.com,
2
adeelkhalid9@gmail.com,
3
mudassarkazmi@yahoo.com,
4
smohsin@comsats.edu.pk

AbstractAn Elastic Bunch Graph Map (EBGM) algorithm
is being proposed in this research paper that successfully
implements face recognition using Gabor filters. The proposed
system applies 40 different Gabor filters on an image. As a
result of which 40 images with different angles and orientation
are received. Next, maximum intensity points in each filtered
image are calculated and mark them as Fiducial points. The
system reduces these points in accordance to distance between
them. The next step is calculating the distances between the
reduced points using distance formula. At last, the distances are
compared with database. If match occurs, it means that the
image is recognized.

Keywords: Face, Recogntion, Image, Gabor, Distance
Formula.

I. INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, many applications used by the civilians and
army or police forces require effective face recognition in
different ways. One of the significant purposes of face
recognition is identification verification and physical access
control. When an access point gets an image of anyones
face it compares it with the pre-stored database of faces. If
the image is matched, access is granted and the resulted
action is performed. For areas which are Red alert or have a
high level of security there should be different security
checks like checking cards and face etc. This kind of face
recognition system is installed in sensitive areas such as air
ports for facilitation of crew staff and other authorized
people to pass through different security levels without
showing their identification.
For secure transactions over the internet face verification
can be used instead of PIN numbers and password. The
passwords and PIN numbers are difficult to remember.
Although they are very helpful for authentication but they
can be easily stolen. Applications where face verification can
be used efficiently include secure transactions in e- & m-
commerce and banking and computer network access. Face
identification can be used for identification and surveillance
on secure areas or on public places to detect illegal activities.
Face recognition can also be used in government security
issues like national ID cards, passports and license, etc.

II. EXISTING WORK

There are numerous face recognition techniques that have
been projected in the past 30 years. For this topic (see [4] for
a review), these existing techniques are being divided into
different classes. The subsequently given below are some
possible high level classifications:
Holistic Methods use entire face image as a raw input for
further processing. A famous example of this method is
PCA-based approach presented by Sirovich[5] and Kirby,
followed by Pentland [6] and Turk.
For extracting local features which are nose, ears, eyes and
lips, the Local Feature-based Methods are used. Their
positions and local look are key to the recognition phase. For
example, Elastic Bunch Graph Matching (EBGM) [7][1][14]
proposed this work.
In 1960, digital image processing started with semi-
automated systems [10]. In order to locate the major features
different marks were made on photographs. Semi-automated
systems have used features like mouth, eyes and nose. Next,
in order to get the common reference point, the ratios and
distances were calculated from these calculations and the
calculations were compared with the database. In 1970s,
Harmon, Goldstein and Lesk [9] introduced their system.
The system had 21 subjective markers having lip thickness
and hair color. This was difficult while automating the
system because of the many complex measurements were
completely made by hand. After the Goldstein paper, Fisher
and Elschlagerb projected a new advancement to face
recognition [11]. This technique calculated the features of
face by using above templates. Finally, they were mapped
onto a global template. The research resulted in the
conclusion that an adult face does not contain much unique
data. Another approach is Connectionist technique, is used to
categorize human face using two things which are gestures
and a set of classifying markers. This technique is normally
applied on neural network principles and 2-dimensional
pattern recognition. In neural networks a huge training
database of faces is needed which required too much time to
train the whole system to get the desired results.
The proposed technique is mechanized for general pattern
recognition. This compare faces with a general face model in
a single face which creates a series of patterns. The statistical
approach relies on grayscale value.

III. PROPOSED WORK

The proposed system uses Gabor filters for face
recognition. The maximum intensity points dynamically on

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54
each filtered image are found and are marked as fiducial
points. If the distance is minimum between these face points
then system reduces the points. After that the system
accesses the database and recognizes the image if the
distance between points gets matched.



Fig. 1 System block diagram.

IV. NORMALIZATION

Following are the steps for image normalization

1. Rescaling to 128 128

In the first step, every input image is resized to 128x128.

2.1 Pixels Adjustment

In this step, Image Pixel intensities are used, such that the
standard deviation of Image Pixel is one and mean zero.

3. Borders are smoothed

Now, Image boundaries are smoothed across band 30
pixels wide and they are weighted by an aspect d 30, where d
is distance of image edge.
In this step Gabor Filter [3] [8] is applied on the input image.
The sample 40 Gabor filters are shown in figure 3.1. The
Gaussian kernel function is changed by sinusoid which is an
major expression of Gabor wavelet [2].

Fig. 2 Input face



where,



V. GABOR FILTER

The factor = kf makes sure the filter spatial range of
action is partial correspondingly to the central frequency f. In
this equation is frequency of filter, are 8 different
orientations in the filter. a discrete recognition of (1) using
five dissimilar scales and eight angles are engaged and in
result of it 40 Gabor filters are acquired. In the end of
equation (1), the term DC creates the filter DC-free.


Fig. 3 Gabor Filter [3]

In figure 4 the results are shown by applying the Gabor
filter on image.


Journal of Applied Computer Science & Mathematics, no. 11 (5) /2011, Suceava

55

Fig. 4 Applying Filter on Image

In the below figure I(x,y) is input image and g(x,y) is the
resultant image of Gabor filter. When the original image with
Gabor filter is multiplied, a new image is acquired which is
equal to J(x,y), where x and y is the height and width of the
image respectively.

Fig. 5 Face point extraction

VI. FIDUCIAL POINTS LOCALIZATION

After applying the Gabor filter 40 images are required
with different angles and orientations. Then the maximum
intensity points are found in each image. After that 40 points
on image calculated as shown in figure below. To find these
face points, the following equation is used.


Where:


= Intensity at coordinate

N1 and N2 are the width and height of image. By using
this equation one point is found on each image out of 40
Gabor filtered images (shown below).


Fig. 6 Face Points

Then the distance is calculated to minimize the points.
The minimum distance possible between two points is
defined to minimize the number of points. After that the mid
point of the selected points is calculated and the point is
marked as face point and stored in database for further
processing, as shown in figure below.

Fig. 7 Minimized Face Points

VII. DISTANCE FORMULA AND MATCHING

After minimizing the points distance between points is
calculated by using the distance formula.




Fig. 8 Distances between Face Points

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The distances of the selected points are compared with
the database; if the distances get matched with database the
face is recognized.
In the figure 8, it is shown that how the distance between
two points is calculated using distance formula. After that all
the distances between points are stored in database and
through these distances face recognition is done.

VIII. EXPERIMENT AND RESULTS

To measure the accuracy of proposed Gabor face
recognition algorithm the standard database face94 [15] is
used`. For this, 10 persons images were selected. There are
20 images of each person in the database.

TABLE I RESULTS COMPARISON
Total
Images
Matched Not
matched
Result
(Accuracy)
5 5 0 100%
10 10 0 100%
15 14 1 93.33%
18 17 1 94.44%
22 20 2 90.90%
Purposed
Technique
Total=70 66 4 94.29%
Eigenface [12] 80.0%
Elastic graph matching [13] 80.0%
EBGM [14] 75.29%
Previous
Techniques
rms scaling Gabor [14] 84.50%

The proposed technique compares 70 images. In this
comparison, 66 images were matched and 4 were not
matched. The accuracy rate of proposed system is 94.29%
which is much better than the previous system.

Fig. 9 Results

IX. CONCLUSION

The proposed system uses the Gabor filter and (Elastic
Bunch Graph Map) that dynamically makes Bunch Graph
Map on the face. In the pervious system the EBGM is pre
defined thats why the results are not matched in a better
way, whereas in proposed system first Gabor filter is applied
on image and after that face points are calculated. After
getting the face points, the distance between points is found
and using these points the face is matched. The experiment
shows better results of proposed technique than the existing
techniques.

REFERENCES

[1] D. S. Bolme. Elastic bunch graph matching. Masters
thesis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado,
USA, 2003, Pages 775-779
[2] C. Aguerrebere, G. Capdehourat, M. Delbracio, M. Mateu,
A. Fernandez and F. Lecumberry. An Improved Face
Recognition Algorithm through Gabor Filter Adaptation
June 2007, Pages 74-79
[3] B. Kepenekci, F. B. Tek, and G. B. Akar. Occluded face
recognition by using gabor features. In 3rd COST 276
Workshop on Information and Knowledge Management for
Integrated Media Communication, Budapest, October 2002.
[4] W. Zhao, R. Chellappa, P. J. Phillips, and A. Rosenfeld.
Face recognition: A literature survey. ACM Computing
Surveys, 35(4): pages 399458, 2003.
[5] M. Kirby and L. Sirovich. Application of the Karhunen-
Lo`eve procedure for the characterization of human faces.
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine
Intelligence,12(1): pages 103108, 1990.
[6] M. Turk and A. P. Pentland. Eigenfaces for recognition.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 3(1): pages 7186, 1991.
[7] L. Wiskott, J.-M. Fellous, N. Kruger, and C. von der
Malsburg. Face recognition by elastic bunch graph matching.
In L. C. Jain, U. Halici, I. Hayashi, and S. B. Lee, editors,
Intelligent Biometric Techniques in Fingerprint and Face
Recognition, chapter 11, pages 355396. CRC Press, 1999.
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[9] A.J.Goldstein, L.D. Harmon, and A.B Lesk, "Identification of
Human Faces," Proc. IEEE, May 1971, Vol. 59, No. 5, 748-
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[10] Biometrics,Face Recognition, National Science and
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http://www.biometrics.gov/Documents/FaceRec.pdf
[11] Fischler, M. and Elschlager, R. (1973). ``The representation
and matching of pictorial structures''. IEEE Transactions on
Computers, C-22:6792
[12] M. Turk and A. Pentland. Eigenfaces for recognition.
Journal of Cognitive Science, pp.71-86, 1991.
[13] L. Wiskott, J. M. Fellous, N. Krger and Christoph von
der Malsburg, Face Recognition by Elastic Graph
Matching, In Intelligent Biometric 110 Techniques in
fingerprint and Face Recognition, CRC Press, Chapter 11, pp.
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[14] Al-Amin Bhuiyan, and Chang Hong Liu, On Face
Recognition using Gabor Filters proceedings of world
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july 2007 issn 1307-6884.
[15] University of essex,uk faces94 face recognition data.



Journal of Applied Computer Science & Mathematics, no. 11 (5) /2011, Suceava

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Mr. Muhammad Sharif is working as an Assistant Professor in department of computer science, COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology, Wah Campus and having over 15 years of experience of teaching graduate and under graduate
classes. His areas of research are Image Processing and Computer Networks.

Mr. Adeel Khalid is a graduate from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Wah Campus. His area of interest is
Image Processing.

Mr. Mudassar Raza is working as a lecturer in department of computer science, COMSATS Institute of Information
Technology, Wah Campus and having over 5 years of experience of teaching under graduate classes. His area of research is
Image Processing.

Dr. Sajjad Mohsin is working as a Professor/Dean, Faculty of Information Sciences and Technology, COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology. He is the member of editorial boards of 3 International Journals including IEEE Journal as well. He
is also member of Board of Faculties and Convener Board of Studies of Computer Science.