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Biometric technology involving facial recognition could soon be used to determine the moods of people in public and alert security about angry or suspicious expressions, according to research out of Concordia University.

A researcher at the Montreal-based university has developed a computer image processing system capable of classifying human facial expressions and identifying what emotion a person is conveying.

Such a system is ready to be deployed in highly trafficked public areas, says Prabir Bhattacharya, a professor at Concordia's Institute for Information Systems Engineering.

The technology hasn't been put into the field yet but could potentially be used in a homeland security role, says Bhattacharya, who also holds a Canada Research Chair in Information Systems.

“It could be used in a public setting like a train station or an airport and security could keep a closer eye on people who seem suspicious,” he says. “Whether certain points like the eyebrows or the lips are expanding or contracting, you can know what sort of emotion they are conveying.”

Can you determine what moods are expressed here? Bhattacharya's facial recognition technology can.

The system analyzes a facial expression by first measuring the distance between the eyes. Based on that, it is able to map out other regions of the face and set a template. Then, it can process different markers that give away a person's mood.

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