Xinhua recently reported that China Railway Science Research Institute just developed a new technology that can perform facial recognition even when the individual wears a regular mask and a helmet. The system will also measure the body temperature at the same time. Many industrial workplaces plan to deploy this new technology to monitor their locations where work resumed. The new technology focuses on characterizing eyes and eyebrows for pattern matching and does not require a hardware change to existing systems. With a large amount of data, current system accuracy reached 99.9 percent. It can also remind workers to wear a helmet if one is not recognized. The new technology development started before the coronavirus was a threat. The Chinese government has deployed a facial recognition monitoring system nationwide. Named Sky Eye, it has run into many issues related to suspects wearing masks to avoid identification. The new system is now improving image resolution for data collection; the goal is to reduce the number of cameras everywhere.
Source: Xinhua, March 11, 2020
http://www.xinhuanet.com/2020-03/11/c_1125694796.htm