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Photo: marcop
The grade 11 pupil at Herzlia High School in Cape Town has a discovery which opens a world of opportunities for photo-identification of individuals. Her project, “The Future of Identification”, is still in its prototype stage, but already shows enormous potential.
This form of identification is even more accurate than many of the biometric methods used today like fingerprinting, and cannot be changed. If a new identification programme were to be adopted across the world, you are sitting on an invention of gigantic importance. Do the sums. There are currently over six billion people on earth. Is a royalty of R1 per application appropriate? Big one!
The fundus is the bowl at the back of the eye. It holds the retina, the head of the optic nerve and the vascular system. The placement of these elements is stable and does not alter from childbirth to death and is still stable some hours after death.
Fundus photography is a new method to identify an individual. It is the Contactless Biometric identification method. The aim of Simone’s project was to determine whether measurements from a photograph of the fundus could be used to identify a person.
Simone participated in the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in 2007 where she won a gold medal both for the regional and the national Expo with her fundus identification method. She was subsequently awarded a bursary from Eskom to study engineering along with a scholarship from construction company, Murray and Roberts.
She went on to win a gold medal at this year’s Beijing Youth Science Creation competition in March where she was the only representative from South Africa, and where the intellectual and commercial rights were provisionally patented for her world-first invention.
Simone explains how her identification method works. The fundus camera takes a photograph of the back of the eye and displays a digital image thereof. Some 1 030 photographs of the eye’s fundus were taken with a Topcon Fundus Camera. A further 30 photographs were taken with a Canon Camera to see whether both cameras have the ability to yield results.
Four distances were measured in each photograph. These distances remained stable over time. The left and the right eyes were also recorded. Two mathematical formulae in ratio form were developed in order to identify numerically the characteristics of the fundus photograph. The first formula labelled “variable” does not compound minor inaccuracies when taking the measurements. The second formula labelled “accurate” is where there is no error in taking the measurements. The measurements of the four distances were substituted into each formula, giving a Fundus Identification number for both formulae. A survey was also completed to show that people are comfortable being on a database.
A computer program was also developed to check that no two numbers are the same. It would run through all the Fundus Identification numbers to ascertain whether there are any matching entries. The final mathematical formula resulted from both formulae – being the variable and accurate formulae – producing different answers for every fundus photograph. Further computer programs need to be developed in order to take the measurements necessary so that human interaction is eliminated. However, all people are different and so is their fundus.
By creating two simple mathematical formulae, the straight-A student was able to convert each person’s set of fundus measurements into a unique 10-digit identification number, creating the world’s first fundus database.
There are a number of benefits to using Simone’s fundus identification method. It eliminates the need to remember a password or carry a token.
It can be done on children of any age, therefore photographs can be taken at birth and last an entire lifetime; unlike fingerprinting, voice or facial recognition.
As the fundus is an internal characteristic of the eye, it cannot be changed. It is unnecessary to store the photographs, as the measurements can be extracted from a new photograph, thereby giving a Fundus Identification number than can be correlated with the database.
This makes the method more reliable and data would be able to be analysed quicker once it is fully developed. Furthermore, the new identification method could benefit all South Africans, from crime fighting being able to identify existing criminals, preventing identify theft, to safely storing people’s medical and other data, as well as immigration control.
“I think the project has potential, and I definitely want to pursue it to the point where it makes a return – no matter how hard this is,” says Simone, who cites her determination to do things well as one of her strongest qualities.
Simone is one of 13 learners in South Africa who have been selected as Mark Shuttleworth’s Hip2b2 Brand Ambassadors, showing youngsters that being clever in maths, science and technology is ‘cool’. Four of the best South African computer programmers (two of them are brothers from Rondebosch Boys’ High in Cape Town) will soon compete in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in Egypt. The finalists were chosen from 34 000 participants.
Over the course of 17 years, South African teams have won four gold medals, 13 silver and 18 bronze. About 80 countries send teams to compete in the IOI competitions.
A trader on the JSE, an inventor, a saxophonist, a computer whiz, a ballerina, a tennis player, a forensic scientist – and others who are sometimes whacky, sometimes weird, but all loaded with creative whiz – have made the cut from over 400 applications to be Brand Ambassadors for Mark Shuttleworth’s Hip2b2 programme.
The first of its kind, the Hip2b2 programme rewards and acknowledges high-school learners with a proven ability in science, inventions, entrepreneurship, maths or computers. Some also excel in sports and the arts, proving yet again that you don’t have to be a closet nerd to be clever.
Mark Shuttleworth launched the Hip2b2 brand five years ago. A self-confessed geek, who became a billionaire in his 20s by breaking new frontiers in computer technology, Shuttleworth started Hip2b2 with the intention of making science, maths and technology ‘sexy’ to high-school learners.
Thirteen Brand Ambassadors, all under 17 years of age, will participate upfront as “the face of the brand” in the exciting Hip2b2 platforms, says Kate Evans, communications manager of BSquare Communications.
“They will star in our television show, write for our magazine, create a blog and record podcasts for the website,” says Evans. “Throughout the year, the Brand Ambassadors will also become involved in social responsibility or community outreach projects.”
Earlier this year, applications for the Brand Ambassador Programme were invited from high-school learners across the country.
Shuttleworth paid tribute to the excellence of this year’s best entries: “It’s that little bit of magic that makes these Brand Ambassadors stand out from other hot contenders,”
he said.
“For the Hip2b2 Brand Ambassador programme we evaluate learners on their own aspirations and single out those who want to discover more, are curious about the world around them and want to share their interests with others.
“Hip2b2 definitely favours learners with bags of enthusiasm and creative energy – those who are constantly moving with the times and re-defining their accomplishments along
the way.”
Evans said the Hip2b2 brand doesn’t sell products, at least not in the traditional physical sense.
“Our goal is sell an idea to young learners; that focusing their energies on maths, science and related subjects is a launch pad to many exciting careers. Working hard at them gives you so many more options when you leave school.”
Sadly, maths and science have been largely neglected in South Africa with the result that this country lags behind many others when it comes to breaking new ground in the rapidly changing world of technology.
“Our Brand Ambassadors are tomorrow’s doctors, scientists, captains of industry, Nobel laureates and afronauts,” says Evans.
“They are the ones who will carry our message, our reason for being and our brand, so it is critical that they embrace what we are doing and how we are doing it. You could say they are our cheerleaders.” ?
Royston Lamond
