TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH, MUNICH, GERMANY. A breakthrough in gait analysis or in the study of human motion has been reported to soon be able to help identify a particular person no matter where he or she is. Gait analysis has never been used as a biometric before because of its inconsistent ability to recognize individuals accurately. A recent development in automated gait recognition might just change all that very soon.

Currently, using gait analysis as a way to recognize individuals has actually become a better option than the other existing forms of biometric security systems. Face recognition and iris scanners require high-quality images to function. Although fingerprints get the job done, it still requires the owner of the fingerprints to cooperate to have his fingerprints scanned. If you’re after a suspected criminal who moves like the wind, you certainly won’t get any of his fingerprints without cutting off his fingers. On the other hand, gait analysis works like a charm even with low-quality CCTV footage.

Martin Hofmann and his team at the Technical University of Munich in Germany are the developers behind this magnificent technology. They are also researching and developing more ways to make gait analysis more accurate than any other forms of biometric systems. In some tests conducted, the newly developed gait system was able to recognize 80% of the random people who were used for the experiment.

Currently, Daigo Muramatsu and his team at Osaka University in Japan are working on improving the new gait system’s capability to recognize a person from different camera angles. Martin Hoffman and Daigo Muramatsu will be presenting the developments on the new gait system at the BTAS biometrics conference in Washington DC this week. Hopefully, it will make biometric security systems more accurate and safer to use in the near future.