Accurate eye center localization using Snakuscule

Estimating eye centers is an important computer vision problem with several applications. In the past, eye center localization was constrained by the use of special hardware such as infrared cameras. Methods that estimate eye centers based on visible light have also been suggested in the literature, but these methods are inaccurate when used with low resolution images and wide ranges of lighting. We propose a novel method that can be used to detect eye centers efficiently, even with low resolution images provided by a webcam. Our method takes into consideration the circular nature of the iris and its intensity difference as compared to the sclera. It then uses an energy based active contour called Snakuscule for capturing the iris. We test our algorithm's robustness towards changes in pose, illumination and scale using the BioID database and Yale Face Database B. Our method compares well with existing state-of-the-art techniques in terms of accuracy, is easy to implement and exhibits real-time performance.