Smart Door Locks - Enhancing Security with Machine Learning

Enhancing Security Using the Latest Technology

Security is a topic on everyone’s minds today, and as technology gets more advanced, it can be easier to bypass the older systems that others have built. Large-scale system hacks are highly publicized and can affect a wide range of people, but smaller scale hacks can be just as devastating. Therefore, it’s essential to use the best technology to protect what matters most, such as your home and family. Face recognition can provide a more effective home security solution than traditional keys and keypads. Physical keys can be duplicated, stolen, lost, or forgotten, and key codes can be guessed, forgotten, or shared with unauthorized users. Accurate face recognition technology has none of those disadvantages, and owners can easily manage the authorization of each person and log their entries.

With some of these legacy security systems becoming easier to bypass, we need to constantly develop new solutions using the latest technology to keep the highest level of security. This is where the smart door lock, utilizing machine learning and 3D facial recognition from AMD technology partner Makarena Labs, comes into play. In this blog, we discuss how smart door technology is bringing peace of mind to the front door and more with a superior level of security.

Addressing Current Security Problems in Smart Door Locks

Smart door locks can provide increased protection for homes and other consumer dwelling spaces, like garages or sheds, but previous versions of smart locks can be easily tricked. Due to the incorporated technology—generally a standard CMOS sensor—previous smart locks can be fooled into opening by using 2D pictures of an authorized person’s face. This results in a false recognition and the system will allow an unauthorized person entry, which is a major security breach that needs to be addressed.  

AMD, in partnership with Makarena, have developed a capable solution, based on the AMD Zynq^™ 7000 SoC, that provides a fully functional and robust design using 3D facial recognition. This advanced facial recognition is achieved through a camera that uses IR Time-of-Flight (TOF) or Lidar technology to bounce a pattern off the face of the person attempting to gain entry, while the sensors in the smart lock capture the reflection (Figure 1).

Figure 1: This smart lock design, developed by AMD and their partner Makarena, is based on the AMD Zynq 7000 SoC, incorporates IR TOF or Lidar technology to detect and create a 3D map of the face, and compares the 3D map to the authorized users in the system, only unlocking if a match is found. (Source: AMD)

Using the reflection captured by the sensors, the system creates a 3D map of the face and compares it to the authorized users in the system, only unlocking if a match is found (Figure 2). The CMOS sensor provides an added layer of accuracy and simplifies user management for the homeowner by providing images of each authorized user.

Figure 2: The smart door lock’s detection and authorization process ensures accuracy while simplifying user management. (Source: AMD)

This advanced smart door lock system also works in complete darkness and can recognize authorized people even while they are wearing glasses, hats, or facial covers.

The AMD Zynq 7000 SoC design can be easily configured and customized by OEMs with help on hand from Makarena Labs, providing a lock that can store a family’s authorized faces and accurately authorize or reject them in under a second. For applications that need to store a larger number of faces, such as a neighborhood’s security gate, the higher performance AMD Zynq UltraScale+^™ MPSoC can support fast recognition even with hundreds of authorized faces. Both parts include robust security engines, which OEM customers can configure to load only authentically signed, encrypted firmware.

If you're interested in hearing more about the smart lock solution, please reach out to sales@makarenalabs.com.

AMD, and the AMD Arrow logo, UltraScale+, Zynq, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

The Smart Door Locks – Enhancing Security with Machine Learning blog was first published on amd.com and was reposted here with permission.

Xilinx develops highly flexible and adaptive processing platforms that enable rapid innovation across a variety of technologies, from the endpoint to the edge to the cloud. Specializing in programmable logic devices, Xilinx is the semiconductor company that invented the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), the hardware programmable System on Chip (SoC), and the Adaptive Compute Acceleration Platform (ACAP).