<s>
The	O
Facial	O
Recognition	O
Technology	O
(	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
)	O
program	O
was	O
a	O
government-sponsored	O
project	O
that	O
aimed	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
large	O
,	O
automatic	O
face-recognition	O
system	O
for	O
intelligence	O
,	O
security	O
,	O
and	O
law	O
enforcement	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
began	O
in	O
1993	O
under	O
the	O
combined	O
leadership	O
of	O
Dr.	O
Harry	O
Wechsler	O
at	O
George	O
Mason	O
University	O
(	O
GMU	O
)	O
and	O
Dr.	O
Jonathan	O
Phillips	O
at	O
the	O
Army	O
Research	O
Laboratory	O
(	O
ARL	O
)	O
in	O
Adelphi	O
,	O
Maryland	O
and	O
resulted	O
in	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
Facial	O
Recognition	O
Technology	O
(	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
)	O
database	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
goal	O
of	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
program	O
was	O
to	O
advance	O
the	O
field	O
of	O
face	O
recognition	O
technology	O
by	O
establishing	O
a	O
common	O
database	O
of	O
facial	O
imagery	O
for	O
researchers	O
to	O
use	O
and	O
setting	O
a	O
performance	O
baseline	O
for	O
face-recognition	O
algorithms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
has	O
been	O
used	O
by	O
more	O
than	O
460	O
research	O
groups	O
and	O
is	O
currently	O
managed	O
by	O
the	O
National	O
Institute	O
of	O
Standards	O
and	O
Technology	O
(	O
NIST	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
2017	O
,	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
has	O
been	O
used	O
to	O
train	O
artificial	O
intelligence	O
programs	O
and	O
computer	O
vision	O
algorithms	O
to	O
identify	O
and	O
sort	O
faces	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
program	O
first	O
began	O
as	O
a	O
way	O
to	O
unify	O
a	O
large	O
body	O
of	O
face-recognition	O
technology	O
research	O
under	O
a	O
standard	O
database	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
September	O
1993	O
,	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
program	O
was	O
spearheaded	O
by	O
Dr.	O
Harry	O
Wechsler	O
and	O
Dr.	O
Jonathan	O
Phillips	O
under	O
the	O
sponsorship	O
of	O
the	O
U.S.	O
Department	O
of	O
Defense	O
Counterdrug	O
Technology	O
Development	O
Program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
facial	O
images	O
for	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
were	O
collected	O
from	O
August	O
1993	O
to	O
December	O
1994	O
,	O
a	O
time	O
period	O
known	O
as	O
Phase	O
I	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
Phase	O
I	O
,	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
had	O
collected	O
673	O
sets	O
of	O
images	O
,	O
resulting	O
in	O
over	O
5000	O
total	O
images	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
Phase	O
I	O
,	O
five	O
organizations	O
were	O
given	O
the	O
opportunity	O
to	O
test	O
their	O
face-recognition	O
algorithm	O
on	O
the	O
newly	O
created	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
in	O
order	O
to	O
compare	O
how	O
they	O
performed	O
against	O
each	O
other	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Phase	O
II	O
began	O
after	O
Phase	O
I	O
,	O
and	O
during	O
this	O
time	O
,	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
acquired	O
more	O
sets	O
of	O
facial	O
images	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Afterwards	O
,	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
program	O
entered	O
Phase	O
III	O
where	O
another	O
456	O
sets	O
of	O
facial	O
images	O
were	O
added	O
to	O
the	O
database	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
1996	O
,	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
had	O
accumulated	O
a	O
total	O
of	O
14,126	O
facial	O
images	O
pertaining	O
to	O
1199	O
different	O
individuals	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
365	O
duplicate	O
sets	O
of	O
images	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
of	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
program	O
,	O
researchers	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
establish	O
a	O
common	O
baseline	O
for	O
comparing	O
different	O
face-recognition	O
algorithms	O
and	O
create	O
a	O
large	O
standard	O
database	O
of	O
facial	O
images	O
that	O
is	O
open	O
for	O
research	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2003	O
,	O
DARPA	O
released	O
a	O
high-resolution	O
,	O
24-bit	O
color	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
images	O
in	O
the	O
FERET	B-General_Concept
database	I-General_Concept
(	O
existing	O
reference	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
