Research
Biometric Data Collection Laboratory
Dr. Dawson is the director of the LCSEE Biometric Data Collection Laboratory at WVU. This lab consists of ~1400 square feet of reconfigurable floor space that can accommodate controlled collection of a variety of biometric modalities including: visible face images as well as image capture in the near infrared (NIR) to short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectra, contact and non-contact fingerprint imaging, traditional and stand-off iris imaging, and scripted and unscripted voice recording. The suite of facial imaging hardware includes traditional digital SLR camera technologies (up to 50 MP still images and 4k/60 FPS video) with a variety of lensing, as well as high-resolution 3D facial imaging and SWIR cameras capable of capturing images up to 1280x1024 pixel resolution with 60 FPS frame rate. SWIR collection hardware also consists of an array of custom bandpass filters ranging from 1050 to 1650 nm with 20 and 50nm passbands, as well as 1064nm and 1540nm fiber pigtailed laser sources and associated beam expanding optics for active illumination to enable SWIR imaging in low light conditions. The lab also possesses FLIR SC8000 and SC645 thermal IR cameras capable of imaging at 1024 x 768 and 640x480 resolutions respectively. In addition to the main collection lab, there is 750 square feet of access-controlled space that can be dedicated to ITAR-restricted projects. Research projects can also take advantage of large outdoor areas on the Evansdale campus for projects involving uncontrolled conditions or unobstructed long-range sensing (up to 300m).
The LCSEE Biometric Data Collection Lab has performed numerous data collection projects for sponsors that include industry, government agencies, and the Center for Identification Technology Research. Datasets include imagery collected in both controlled and operational conditions for a wide variety of biometric modalities, resulting in a biometrics data repository of ~32TB of data comprised of ~14k datasets from ~10k unique individuals, with longitudinal data spanning up to ten years.
Biometrics Applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Dr. Dawson collaborates closely with Dr. Nasser Nasrabadi and his
Cognitive Computing Laboratory to develop AI and machine learning approaches
for some of the most challenging biometrics recognition scenarios, including:
- unconstrained facial recognition
- contactless fingerprint interoperability
- adversarial attacks (including facial morphs)
- cross-spectral iris matching, multimodal fusion
- audio-visual speaker recognition
Human Molecular Biometrics
Rapid access to genomic information is being enabled via devices such as the Oxford Nanopore MinION system. These systems are paving the way for the field of molecular biometrics, enabling automated identification of humans based on their unique molecular signatures. Dr. Dawson collaborates with the research group of Dr. Donald Adjeroh to apply novel bioinformatics techniques to human and bacterial genomes to explore these new identification methodologies.
Nanophotonic & Nanoplasmonic Devices
Dr. Dawson's Naonophotonic Sensor group explored novel applications of engineered periodic nanoscale lattice structures to improve the control of light in sensor and solid state lighting application. His group has achieved 10-100 order of magnitude of florescence emission enhancement using plasmonic and photonic crystals structures, enabling a reduction in the detection limits of sensors that use fluorescence spectroscopy as the main detection methodology. In addition, these structures have been applied to solid-state lighting (LED) devices in order to extract more photons from these devices, improving overall operating efficiency.
CubeSat STF-1
The II-V nitride LED architectures designed by Dr. Dawson's group in collaboration with Dr. Dimitris Korakakis are currrently in orbit as part of the STF-1 CubeSat mission, the first spacecraft wholly designed and constructed in the state of West Virginia. Launch of the ELaNa 19 mission containing STF-1 and several other CubeSats occurred at 06:33 UTC on December 16, 2018 from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. First radio contact was made on December 19, 2018, indicating that the main satellite functions were performing as expected. The first LCSEE experiment was first conducted on January 28, 2019, and has been ran at regular intervals to date. Data periodically downloaded from the satellite indicates that it is performing as expected. Monitoring the turn-on voltage, forward resistance, and spectral characteristics of the output of several LEDs using the LCSEE-developed Low-powered Optoelectronic Characterizer for CubeSat (LOCC) on-board STF-1 over the course of its mission will provide insight into how high energy particles in the VanAllen belts may impact nitride-based electronics used in space missions. This operational data from a III-V nitride device, obtained in the operating environment of space, is the first of its kind.