A. Gelbukh et al. (Eds.): MICAI 2014, Part I, LNAI 8856, pp. 356–367, 2014. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 A Novel Approach for Face Authentication Using Speeded Up Robust Features Algorithm Cyntia Mendoza-Martinez * , Jesus Carlos Pedraza-Ortega, and Juan Manuel Ramos-Arreguin Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro, Queretaro, Mexico isc_cmendoza@hotmail.com Abstract. In this paper, we propose a modified face authentication method based on the image preprocessing (histogram equalization, HE) and with SURF algo- rithm (Speeded Up Robust Features) in the feature extraction step. In particular, our methodology aims at determining a person’s authenticity when he/she has a few facial expressions, different backgrounds or a variance in lighting. We evaluated the performance of this method using public face databases like The Extended Cohn-Kanade Dataset (CK+) and Caltech Faces. We made some test using sixty images (thirty per database), Equal (E) or Different (D) and according to the match between images (for example Image 1 and Image 2) and a defined threshold, our method determines if a person is authenticated or not. The results showed that with the database CK+ was obtained 93% and with Caltech Faces 86% of accuracy in the authentication process, these results were compared with those obtained by some algorithms like LDA, PCA, SIFT and SURF (without preprocessing) and we can conclude that the authentication rate was improved. Keywords: Biometrics, Computer vision, Face authentication, Image processing, OpenCV, Python, SURF. 1 Introduction Biometrics refers to the identification of a person on the basis of their physical and be- havioral characteristics. Some biometric systems include features of fingerprints, hand geometry, voice, iris, etc., and can be used for identification. Most biometric systems are based on the collection and comparison of biometric characteristics which can pro- vide identification [1]. In the recent years, a number of recognition and authentication systems based on biometric measurements have been proposed. Algorithms and sensors have been developed to acquire and process many different biometric traits. Moreover, the biometric technology is being used in novel ways, with potential commercial and practical implications to our daily activities [2]. Today’s world security issues are the most important segment among all. Therefore, a segment of authentication and face recognition plays a major role. When a person or a system checks the person’s identity against another person then we are in process of authentication. That means the one who is authenticated can confirm that he/she is the person with whom is compared. * Corresponding author.