Indian, Russian tech firms join hands to implement landmark face recognition project

Western Railways has commissioned 470 video cameras featuring real-time face recognition technology from Russia, according to a release by the Moscow-based biometric technologies company NtechLab.

The system developed by NtechLab, which specialises in video analytics, has been installed at 30 railway stations across the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, including the city of Mumbai.

“The camera system will be used on the busiest section, of the network and ensure simultaneous recognition of up to 50 people in a single frame. It was a complex challenge, but we were able to successfully address it efficiently and on schedule.” NtechLab CEO Andrei Telenkov said in a statement.


According to the company, the video analytics system will be used to shape strategy, for instance, by counting passenger traffic on the network at any given time. It will also be used to identify criminals.

“Our video analytics technology employs high-precision, real-time face recognition mode, in the video stream. Images are compared with a database of wanted individuals. If there is a match, it notifies law enforcement immediately. The entire process, from the appearance of the person in front of a camera to law enforcement receiving a signal, takes less than three seconds. This enables a fast response to situations as they develop,” Telenkov added.

The project was completed jointly with the Indian company Technosys Security Systems. At the same time, NtechLab was certified as an official provider of high quality by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), a technical adviser and consultant to Indian Railways.

“Faced with a choice of dozens of major global suppliers the Western Railway chose NtechLab, demonstrating the reliability and quality of our face recognition system which is already confirmed in Russia with significant deployments. Before the year’s end, we plan to complete at least three more video analytics projects in India in the fields of retail, education and entertainment,” according to Liana Meliksetyan, Chief Commercial Officer, NtechLab.

In June this year, NtechLab announced that it had topped the Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) undertaken by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the US Department of Commerce.

As evaluated by the NIST based on the results of seven independent tests, the algorithm developed by NtechLab was adjudged the best worldwide.