US government authorities are working on a new camera system that could eventually be able to scan individuals in their cars much more effectively than currently available technology, reports The Verge.
The technology is being developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a research agency run by the US Department of Energy. But the work was initiated at the request of the US Customs and Border Patrol agency, as part of its larger effort to develop a biometric exit program for the country.
Details are scant at present, but the CBP has indicated that it involves the use of a plenoptic camera or ‘light field camera’, which uses multiple sensors to capture a range of light information that enables a high level of depth perception. As The Verge reports, CBP executive director Colleen Manaher referred to the system as “very prototypey” at a conference this past April, but plenoptic camera technology is nevertheless already available in consumer cameras, and a designer of at least one such camera says that the technology does offer solutions to the obstacles that car windshields present for current facial recognition systems.
That could help lead to substantial enhancements in the CBP’s land-based biometric screening program, while the agency’s efforts in bringing it to air travel are already starting to take flight.
Source: The Verge
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June 6, 2017 – by Alex Perala
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