Face image classification using combined classifier

In this paper, a new Face image classification or Recognition method based on Two Dimensional Discrete Cosine Transform (2D - DCT) with Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) is proposed. This method consists of three steps, i) Transformation of images from special to frequency domain using Two dimensional discrete cosine transform ii) Feature extraction using Linear Discriminant Analysis and iii) classification using Probabilistic Neural Network. Linear Discriminant Analysis searches the directions for maximum discrimination of classes in addition to dimensionality reduction. Combination of Two Dimensional Discrete Cosine transform and Linear Discriminant Analysis is used for improving the capability of Linear Discriminant Analysis when few samples of images are available. Probabilistic Neural network (PNN) is a promising tool and gives fast and accurate classification of face images. Evaluation was performed on two face data bases. First database of 400 face images from AT&T (ORL) face database, and the second database of thirteen students are taken. The proposed method gives fast and better recognition rate when compared to other classifiers. The main advantage of this method is its high speed processing capability and low computational requirements in terms of both speed and memory utilizations.