A neural based human face recognition system using an efficient feature extraction method with Pseudo Zernike Moment

This paper introduces an efficient method for the recognition of human faces in 2D digital images using a feature extraction technique that combines the global and local information in frontal view of facial images. The proposed feature extraction includes human face localization derived from the shape information. Efficient parameters axe defined to eliminate irrelevant data while Pseudo Zernike Moments (PZM) with a new moment orders selection method is introduced as face features. The proposed method while yields better recognition rate, also reduces the classifier complexity. This paper also examines application of various feature domains as fare features using the face localization method. These include Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). The Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network has been used as the classifier and we have shown that the proposed feature extraction method requires an RBF neural network classifier with a simpler structure and faster training phase that is less sensitive to select training and testing images. Simulation results on the Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) database and comparison with other techniques indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method.