Multimodal biometrics
Recognition from images and physiological signals: face, iris, hand, gait, EEG and ECG. Data quality, fusion and decision reliability.
Recognition · Fusion · In-the-wildUniversity of Naples Federico II · DIETI
Silvio
Barra.
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Computer vision, artificial intelligence and multimodal systems. From understanding images and signals to designing technologies for health, mobility and sports.
Full Professor qualification · 01/B1 & 09/H1
RESEARCH / TEACHING / INNOVATION
Silvio Barra, PhDNapoli, Italia
Computer vision
Human–AI interaction
Human–AI interaction
Research across
perspectives.As of 4 November 2026
72↗perspectives.As of 4 November 2026
Publications & contributions
Articles, proceedings, chapters, preprints & edited volumes19↗h-index · Scopus
Publications & citations23↗h-index · Google Scholar
Public profile & citations01 / RESEARCH
Images are data.
Data opens possibilities.
Recognition, learning and interaction methods, applied across six complementary areas.
AI for medical imaging
Ultrasound image segmentation and classification. Multi-scale ensembles and generative models for MRI volume resolution enhancement.
Ultrasound · Segmentation · Generative AIIntelligent mobility
Curriculum and reinforcement learning for autonomous driving. Traffic analysis, 3D detection and video surveillance for smart cities.
Autonomous driving · CARLA · Smart citiesSports analytics & interaction
Football performance analysis, wearable sensors and multimodal annotation. Conversational systems connecting domain experts and AI.
Human–AI · Multimodal interfaces · FootballFrom time series to images
Visual encodings and convolutional networks for time-series analysis and financial market forecasting.
Gramian Angular Fields · CNN ensemblesDigital cultural heritage
Fresco reassembly and digital anastylosis. Computer vision, virtual and augmented reality for cultural heritage reconstruction and access.
SAFFO · DAFNE · Image matchingAll research interests and methodological contributions ↗
Methods and people at the centre.
Multimodal fusion, deep learning, generative models and reinforcement learning. Collaboration across universities, laboratories and industry to turn research questions into systems that can be evaluated.
02 / PROJECTS
Collaborative research.
Clear responsibilities.
Selected national research projects and industry collaborations, with roles and funding programmes.
PRIN 2026 · PE6Funded · start to be confirmed
ATHENA
Agentic Trustworthy & Human-supervised ENvironments for AI
UNINA Research Unit LeadTrustworthy, human-supervised agentic AI environments. The UNINA unit coordinates reliability, security and compliance, including explainability and data protection.
2026 · 36 monthsProject: €1,199,995 MUR · UNINA unit: €305,399, including co-financing.
PN RIC 2021–2027 · Azione 1.1.2Active
SINTESI
Sistemi cyber-fisici INTElligenti e SIcuri per la sanità, l’industria e la società
WP1 Leader · HEALTH-CAREAI and cybersecurity for diagnostics and clinical decision support. Personalisation, robustness, explainability and data protection in cyber-physical systems.
06/2026 · 24 monthsAction 1.1.2: €9 million · UNINA unit: €810,000 across multiple WPs.
FRA 2024 · Tipologia BActive
GAINS
Generative AI-enhanced Networks and Security
Co-proponentSecure semantic communications in next-generation networks. Generative AI and robust models against deepfakes, jamming and eavesdropping.
2026–2029€60,000 · Joint budget management with Davide Cozzolino and Donatella Darsena.
MIMIT · Accordi per l’innovazioneActive
SHINE-QC
Piattaforma quantistica di computazione
Research participant · OR1–OR4, CeSMAQuantum hardware characterisation and interfaces for quantum algorithm programming and tuning.
06/2025–06/2028R&D cost: €5,550,560 · MIMIT support: €2,332,881.94. No personal allocation.
Ricerca collaborativaActive
SILAR
SILAR
Research participantParticipation in the project’s research activities.
No personal budget allocation.
Campania Startup 2023 · FESRCompleted
PRESSING
Strumenti innovativi per l’analisi delle prestazioni sportive
Scientific Lead · KICKTECKDeveloped a conversational product for querying player and ball spatiotemporal data, combining RAG, football analysis and customised KPIs.
07/2024–10/2025Cost: €411,000 · Grant: €287,700 · Prototype validated in an operational environment, TRL 7.
FRA 2022Completed
GATT
GAmification in Teaching Testing
Co-proponentGamification to integrate software testing into programming and database courses. Teaching materials, prototypes and empirical studies.
2022Planned budget: €60,000 · No personal allocation.
FRA 2020Completed
FRONTIER
Forensic Robots for in-situ Holographic Reconstruction
Co-proponentForensic robotics and holographic reconstruction of crime dynamics, including mixed-reality training applications.
2021€40,000 · No personal allocation.
Fondazione di SardegnaCompleted
A2DAM
Action/Activity Dual Acquisition Mode
Principal InvestigatorAction and activity recognition combining distributed vision and wearable accelerometers, gyroscopes and GPS.
2019 · two-year project€29,500
03 / PUBLICATIONS
The work, in detail.
All 72 CV entries, newest first. Preprints and edited volumes are distinguished from papers.
- 2026Conference paper
Increasing Resolution of MRI Volumes Through Interleaved Slice Synthesis Based on Generative Adversarial Networks
International Conference on Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns · 15622 · pp. 74–85
- 2026Edited volume
Proceedings of the CHItaly Doctoral Consortium co-located with the 16th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter (CHItaly 2025)
CEUR Workshop Proceedings · 4151 · CEUR-WS.org · Edited proceedings published on 21 January 2026; event held in Salerno on 8 October 2025
- 2026Preprint
The Dialectical Space: Resolving the Semantic Translation Gap in Disjoint Neural Experts via Contrastive Alignment
SSRN · SSRN · Preprint posted on 22 May 2026; not a journal publication
- 2025Journal paper
Autonomous Driving: Integration of Segmentation and Depth Camera in a Curriculum Learning Approach
IEEE Internet of Things Journal · 12(17) · pp. 35237–35248 · IEEE
- 2025Conference paper
CHAMPIonS: Conversational Human-AI Methodologies for Performance In Sports
Proceedings of the 16th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter · pp. 123:1–123:3 · Association for Computing Machinery
- 2024Journal paper
Artificial Intelligence Methods for Smart Cities
Sensors · 24(8) · pp. 2615 · Editorial
- 2024Conference paper
Automated Classification of Test Tubes Based on Uncontrolled Image Analysis
2024 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Engineering (MetroXRAINE) · pp. 1159–1164
- 2024Conference paper
Exploring Architectural Choices and Emerging Challenges in Data Management for IoT: A Focus on Digital Innovation and Smart Cities
UMAP 2024 - Adjunct Proceedings of the 32nd ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization · pp. 429–436
- 2024Conference paper
Investigating the Effectiveness of 3D Monocular Object Detection Methods for Roadside Scenarios
Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Applied Computing · pp. 221–223
- 2024Journal paper
Multi-scale deep learning ensemble for segmentation of endometriotic lesions
Neural Computing and Applications · 36(24) · pp. 14895–14908
- 2023Conference paper
A Practical Approach for Vehicle Speed Estimation in Smart Cities
Machine Learning, Optimization, and Data Science: 8th International Workshop, LOD 2022, Certosa di Pontignano, Italy, September 19–22, 2022, Revised Selected Papers, Part I · 13810 · pp. 253–267
- 2023Conference paper
Can Existing 3D Monocular Object Detection Methods Work in Roadside Contexts? A Reproducibility Study
AIxIA 2023 – Advances in Artificial Intelligence · 14318 · pp. 321–335 · Springer
- 2023Journal paper
CIOD: an intelligent class-incremental object detection system with nearest mean of exemplars
Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing · 14(8) · pp. 10657–10671 · Springer · First published online in 2022; final issue published in 2023
- 2023Journal paper
Emotion recognition by web-shaped model
Multimedia Tools and Applications · 82 · pp. 11321–11336 · Springer
- 2023Journal paper
FootApp: an AI-powered system for football match annotation
Multimedia Tools and Applications · 82(4) · pp. 5547–5567 · Springer
- 2022Journal paper
A Facial Expression Recognition Approach for Social IoT Frameworks
Big Data Research · 30 · pp. 100353 · Elsevier
- 2022Journal paper
An End-to-End Curriculum Learning Approach for Autonomous Driving Scenarios
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems · 23(10) · pp. 19817–19826 · IEEE
- 2022Journal paper
Fully-automated deep learning pipeline for segmentation and classification of breast ultrasound images
Journal of Computational Science · 63 · pp. 101816 · Elsevier
- 2021Conference paper
A Deep Learning Solution for Integrated Traffic Control Through Automatic License Plate Recognition
Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2021 · 12951 · pp. 211–226 · Springer International Publishing
- 2021Conference paper
From Fully Supervised to Blind Digital Anastylosis on DAFNE Dataset
Pattern Recognition. ICPR International Workshops and Challenges · pp. 628–642 · Springer International Publishing
- 2021Conference paper
Heimdall: an AI-based infrastructure for traffic monitoring and anomalies detection
2021 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops and other Affiliated Events (PerCom Workshops) · pp. 154–159
- 2021Journal paper
Introduction to the special issue on “Biometrics in Smart Cities: Techniques and Applications (BI_SCI)”
Pattern Recognition Letters · 148 · pp. 43–44 · Editorial
- 2021Conference paper
Natural Interaction with Traffic Control Cameras Through Multimodal Interfaces
Artificial Intelligence in HCI · pp. 501–515 · Springer International Publishing
- 2021Conference paper
Reinforced Curriculum Learning For Autonomous Driving In Carla
2021 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP) · pp. 3318–3322
- 2021Journal paper
Visual question answering: Which investigated applications?
Pattern Recognition Letters · 151 · pp. 325–331
- 2020Conference paper
A Voice User Interface for football event tagging applications
ACM International Conference Proceeding Series · pp. 1–3 · Association for Computing Machinery
- 2020Journal paper
Clustering facial attributes: Narrowing the path from soft to hard biometrics
IEEE Access · 8 · pp. 9037–9045 · Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
- 2020Journal paper
Deep learning and time series-to-image encoding for financial forecasting
IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica · 7(3) · pp. 683–692
- 2020Journal paper
SAFFO: A SIFT based approach for digital anastylosis for fresco recOnstruction
Pattern Recognition Letters · 138 · pp. 123–129 · Elsevier B.V.
- 2020Journal paper
Web-Shaped Model for Head Pose Estimation: An Approach for Best Exemplar Selection
IEEE Transactions on Image Processing · 29 · pp. 5457–5468 · Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
- 2019Journal paper
A hand-based biometric system in visible light for mobile environments
Information Sciences · 479 · pp. 472–485
- 2019Conference paper
A Novel Blockchain Scheme Combining Prime Numbers and Iris for Encrypting Coding
2019 IEEE Intl Conf on Dependable, Autonomic and Secure Computing, Intl Conf on Pervasive Intelligence and Computing, Intl Conf on Cloud and Big Data Computing, Intl Conf on Cyber Science and Technology Congress (DASC/PiCom/CBDCom/CyberSciTech) · pp. 609–618
- 2019Conference paper
Abylia, un ambiente digitale per la scuola in trasformazione
Conferenza GARR 2018: Data (R)evolution. Selected Papers · pp. 51–55 · Associazione Consortium GARR · Proceedings published in April 2019; conference held in 2018
- 2019Journal paper
Achieving efficient source camera identification on Hadoop
Multimedia Tools and Applications · 78(23) · pp. 32999–33021
- 2019Conference paper
Automating Mockup-Based Usability Testing on the Mobile Device
Green, Pervasive, and Cloud Computing · 11484 · pp. 128–143 · Springer International Publishing
- 2019Journal paper
Biometric data on the edge for secure, smart and user tailored access to cloud services
Future Generation Computer Systems · 101 · pp. 534–541
- 2019Journal paper
Deep learning for source camera identification on mobile devices
Pattern Recognition Letters · 126 · pp. 86–91
- 2019Journal paper
F-FID: fast fuzzy-based iris de-noising for mobile security applications
Multimedia Tools and Applications · 78(10) · pp. 14045–14065
- 2019Journal paper
ILEARNTV: Un Ecosistema di Conoscenza Condivisa e Produzione Collaborativa per Innovare la Formazione
Mondo Digitale · 18(81) · Associazione Italiana per l'Informatica e il Calcolo Automatico
- 2019Book chapter
MICHE competitions: A realistic experience with uncontrolled eye region acquisition
Selfie Biometrics: Advances and Challenges · pp. 67–104 · Springer London
- 2019Journal paper
PhysioUnicaDB: a dataset of EEG and ECG simultaneously acquired
Pattern Recognition Letters · 126 · pp. 119–122
- 2019Conference paper
Transfer Learning for Facial Attributes Prediction and Clustering
Smart City and Informatization · 1122 · pp. 105–117 · Springer Singapore
- 2019Journal paper
Walking in a smart city: Investigating the gait stabilization effect for biometric recognition via wearable sensors
Computers and Electrical Engineering · 80 · Elsevier Ltd
- 2018Conference paper
An Augmented Reality Mobile App for Museums: Virtual Restoration of a Plate of Glass
Digital Heritage. Progress in Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Preservation, and Protection · pp. 539–547 · Springer International Publishing
- 2018Journal paper
Biometrics-as-a-Service: Cloud-Based Technology, Systems, and Applications
IEEE Cloud Computing · 5(4) · pp. 33–37 · Editorial
- 2018Journal paper
Cloud-Based Biometrics (Biometrics as a Service) for Smart Cities, Nations, and Beyond
IEEE Cloud Computing · 5(5) · pp. 92–100
- 2018Conference paper
Continuous Authentication on Smartphone by Means of Periocular and Virtual Keystroke
Network and System Security · 11058 · pp. 212–220 · Springer International Publishing
- 2018Conference paper
Have you permission to answer this phone?
2018 International Workshop on Biometrics and Forensics (IWBF) · pp. 1–7
- 2018Conference paper
ILEARNTV: Un Ecosistema di Conoscenza Condivisa e Produzione Collaborativa per Innovare la Formazione
Atti di DIDAMATICA 2018 · pp. 273–282 · AICA · Conference version; a subsequent journal version appeared in Mondo Digitale in 2019
- 2018Conference paper
Iris Quality Assessment: A Statistical Approach for Biometric Security Applications
Cyberspace Safety and Security · 11161 · pp. 270–278 · Springer International Publishing
- 2018Conference paper
What are you doing while answering your smartphone?
2018 24th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR) · pp. 3120–3125
- 2017Conference paper
A Lightweight Mamdani Fuzzy Controller for Noise Removal on Iris Images
Image Analysis and Processing - ICIAP 2017 · pp. 93–103 · Springer International Publishing
- 2017Book chapter
Chapter 1 - Unconstrained Data Acquisition Frameworks and Protocols
Human Recognition in Unconstrained Environments · pp. 1–30 · Academic Press
- 2017Journal paper
Fusion of physiological measures for multimodal biometric systems
Multimedia Tools and Applications · 76(4) · pp. 4835–4847
- 2017Journal paper
Kurtosis and skewness at pixel level as input for SOM networks to iris recognition on mobile devices
Pattern Recognition Letters · 91 · pp. 37–43 · Mobile Iris CHallenge Evaluation (MICHE-II)
- 2017Conference paper
MOHAB: Mobile Hand-Based Biometric Recognition
Green, Pervasive, and Cloud Computing · pp. 105–115 · Springer International Publishing
- 2017Conference paper
Two-Tier Image Features Clustering for Iris Recognition on Mobile
Fuzzy Logic and Soft Computing Applications · pp. 260–269 · Springer International Publishing
- 2016Journal paper
Biometric recognition in surveillance scenarios: a survey
Artificial Intelligence Review · 46(4) · pp. 515–541
- 2016Journal paper
Joint Head Pose/Soft Label Estimation for Human Recognition In-The-Wild
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence · 38(12) · pp. 2444–2456
- 2016Conference paper
SKIPSOM: Skewness & kurtosis of iris pixels in Self Organizing Maps for iris recognition on mobile devices
2016 23rd International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR) · pp. 155–159
- 2015Conference paper
A Calibration Algorithm for Multi-camera Visual Surveillance Systems Based on Single-View Metrology
Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis · pp. 552–559 · Springer International Publishing
- 2015Conference paper
Acquiring high-resolution face images in outdoor environments: A master-slave calibration algorithm
2015 IEEE 7th International Conference on Biometrics Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS) · pp. 1–8
- 2015Conference paper
EEG/ECG Signal Fusion Aimed at Biometric Recognition
New Trends in Image Analysis and Processing – ICIAP 2015 Workshops · pp. 35–42 · Springer International Publishing
- 2015Conference paper
Quis-Campi: Extending in the Wild Biometric Recognition to Surveillance Environments
New Trends in Image Analysis and Processing – ICIAP 2015 Workshops · pp. 59–68 · Springer International Publishing
- 2015Journal paper
Ubiquitous iris recognition by means of mobile devices
Pattern Recognition Letters · 57 · pp. 66–73 · Mobile Iris CHallenge Evaluation part I (MICHE I)
- 2014Book chapter
Automatic face image tagging in large collections
Face Recognition in Adverse Conditions · pp. 336–358
- 2014Conference paper
Babies: Biometric authentication of newborn identities by means of ear signatures
2014 IEEE Workshop on Biometric Measurements and Systems for Security and Medical Applications (BIOMS) Proceedings · pp. 1–7
- 2014Journal paper
Biometrics application for newborns safe identification in neonatal intensive care units
Journal of Pediatric and Neonatal Individualized Medicine · 3(2) · pp. 17–19 · Extended abstract ABS 13 in Selected Abstracts of the 10th International Workshop on Neonatology; article identifier e030235; DOI of the abstract collection
- 2014Journal paper
Complex Numbers as a Compact Way to Represent Scores and Their Reliability in Recognition by Multi-Biometric Fusion
International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence · 28(07) · pp. 1460003
- 2014Book chapter
Unconstrained Ear Processing: What is Possible and What Must Be Done
Signal and Image Processing for Biometrics · pp. 129–190 · Springer Berlin Heidelberg
- 2014Conference paper
Using Mutual Information for Multi-Anchor Tracking of Human Beings
Biometric Authentication · pp. 28–39 · Springer International Publishing
- 2013Conference paper
FAME: Face Authentication for Mobile Encounter
2013 IEEE Workshop on Biometric Measurements and Systems for Security and Medical Applications · pp. 1–7
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04 / TEACHING
Sharing tools.
Encouraging questions.
University teaching, thesis supervision and professional training. Recent courses are listed here; syllabi and notices are available through the university profile.
The complete teaching record
View all teaching ↗12 university entries · 24 professional and ITS/IFTS teaching entries · 3 seminars and outreach activities
Operating Systems for Mobile, Cloud and IoT
MSc in Computer Science · DIETI, Federico II
6 ECTS: 2020/21–2021/22 and 2025/26–2026/27. Shared 3 ECTS module: 2023/24–2024/25.Security and Privacy
MSc in Criminological, Investigative and Cybercrime Studies · Federico II
6 ECTS · Department of Political ScienceDatabases
BSc in Computer Science · DIETI, Federico II
9 ECTS · Course lecturer05 / ACADEMIC SERVICE
Research grows
through exchange.
All editorial appointments, reviewing, committees and conference activities ↗
Image and
Vision Computing
Managing Editor
Since November 2026
Previously Associate Editor, April 2023–October 2026.Pattern Recognition Letters
Associate Editor · Elsevier
ICMI · ICPRAM
Local Chair, ICMI 2026 · TPC, ICPRAM 2027
ITEE PhD Programme
Doctoral faculty · Quality Management Unit
CHItaly · CHAMPIonS
Doctoral Consortium Chair · Workshop Program Chair
ACADEMIC PATH
Universities, labs,
collaborations.
- 2025—present
Associate ProfessorFederico II · Napoli
- 2020—2025
Assistant Professor · RTDa / RTDbFederico II · Napoli
- 2017—2020
Assistant Professor · RTDaUniversity of Cagliari
- 2016
PhD · Computer ScienceUniversity of Cagliari
06 / TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
From research
to new ventures.
KICKTECK↗
Founding shareholder · PRESSING Scientific LeadAI and football performance analytics. Conversational interfaces for querying match data, extracting KPIs and supporting clubs and analysts.
The Cloud Alchemist↗
Founding shareholder · University of Cagliari spin-offAI and Big Data for automating and semi-automating the development of cloud software systems.
Full agreements, consultancy and professional activities ↗
Previous involvement: VisioScientiae, shareholder during 2021–2023.
CONTACT
A question.
A project.
A collaboration.
For research enquiries, collaboration proposals and theses.
silvio.barra@unina.it ↗DIETI · University of Naples Federico IINapoli, Italia