I can’t find it, and I failed to blog about it (because reasons), but several years ago there was a U.S. effort to recognize people from quite a long way away.
Recognize, not recognise.
The U.S. effort was not a juvenile undertaking, but from what I recall was seeking solutions to wartime use cases, in which the enemy (or a friend) might be quite a long way away.
I was reminded of this U.S. long-distance biometric effort when Biometric Update reported on efforts by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and other entities to use light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to capture and evaluate faces from as far as a kilometer away.
At 325 metres – the length of around three soccer pitches – researchers were able to 3D image the face of one of their co-authors in millimetre-scale detail.
The same system could be used to accurately detect faces and human activity at distances of up to one kilometre – equivalent to the length of 10 soccer pitches – the researchers say.
(I’m surprised they said “soccer.” Maybe it’s a Scots vs. English thing.)
More important than the distance is the fact that since they didn’t depend upon visible light, they could capture faces shrouded by the environment.
“The results of our research show the enormous potential of such a system to construct detailed high-resolution 3D images of scenes from long distances in daylight or darkness conditions.
“For example, if someone is standing behind camouflage netting, this system has the potential to determine whether they are on their mobile phone, holding something, or just standing there idle. So there are a number of potential applications from a security and defence perspective.”
So much for camouflage.
But this is still in the research stage. Among other things, the tested “superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD)” only works at 1 degree Kelvin.
That’s cold.
Bredemarket 
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