Enhancing Facial Recognition: A Comprehensive Review of Deep Learning Approaches and Future Perspectives

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the application of deep learning in facial recognition, covering fundamental aspects from neural network architectures to advanced training methods. It starts with an introduction to the basic architectures such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), including variations like Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) networks. The review extends to sophisticated architectures like AlexNet, GoogleNet, VGGNet, and ResNet, which have significantly pushed the boundaries of accuracy in face recognition tasks. The paper details the process of data preprocessing in face recognition, which involves critical steps such as face detection, alignment, and normalization to ensure uniformity in the input data, enhancing the accuracy of feature extraction. Various feature extraction methods are discussed, including CNN-based and Generative Adversarial Network (GAN)-based techniques, which have shown considerable promise in deriving complex facial features from raw images. Loss functions such as Euclidean distance loss, angular/cosine margin loss, and softmax loss variants are explored to understand their impact on enhancing the discriminative power of the facial recognition systems. The paper highlights the evolution from traditional models using eigenfaces and feature descriptors like Local Binary Patterns (LBP) to cutting-edge deep learning models that utilize deep identity features (DeepID) and triplet loss functions to improve recognition accuracy.