RI: Small: A Computational Framework for Marking Physical Objects against Counterfeiting and Tampering

这个项目吗?S的目标是创建一门科学，将信息嵌入到制造过程本身不精确的物理对象中。该小组将通过调查一个具有重大经济意义的具体问题来实现其目标：挫败伪造和相关的物理篡改检测问题。假冒是一个日益严重的经济问题，被称为？世纪犯罪？最近的一份制造业报告指出，其成本正在迅速上升（仅汽车行业每年的成本就高达数百亿美元，合法制造商在美国损失了约25万个工作岗位）。就科学影响而言，该项目极有可能开创一个重要的新领域。虽然数字对象的标记是一个被充分探索的领域，但在物理对象上放置标记的算法的创建大多是未被探索的领域。在产业影响方面，该项目也具有深刻改善当前？实践的状态？这很容易被老练的造假者打败。这是因为项目？S框架假设对手具有强大的能力，例如比合法制造商更强大的制造能力，并且完全了解用于嵌入标记和读取标记的算法(即，不？通过隐藏实现安全性？)。这个项目吗?S的唯一假设是对手不知道用于嵌入标记的密钥。这项工作的重点是发展必要的计算算法，以解决一些困难的问题和权衡，关于在对象中嵌入什么信息，以及在哪里/如何嵌入它。解决方案必须不增加制造成本，并且必须与当前的制造管道可用。该方法本质上是多学科的，结合了信息隐藏、计算机视觉/图形和鲁棒算法。因此，参与该项目的学生将获得独特的技能组合。

The project?s goal is to create a science for embedding information in physical objects whose manufacturing process is inherently imprecise. The team will reach their objective through the investigation of a specific problem of significant economic importance: thwarting counterfeiting, and the related problem of physical tamper-detection. Counterfeiting is a growing economic problem that has been called the ?crime of the century? by a recent manufacturing industry report, and its cost is rapidly escalating (its yearly cost to the automotive industry alone is in the tens of billions of dollars and the loss of about 250,000 U.S. jobs for the legitimate manufacturers). In terms of scientific impact, the project has excellent potential for launching a significant new field. While the marking of digital objects is a well-explored area, the creation of algorithms for placing marks in physical objects is mostly unexplored territory. In terms of industrial impact, the project also has excellent potential for profoundly improving the current ?state of the practice?, which is all too easily defeated by sophisticated counterfeiters. This is because the project?s framework assumes an adversary with powerful capabilities, such as greater manufacturing prowess than the legitimate manufacturer, and full knowledge of the algorithms used to embed marks and to read marks (i.e., no ?security through obscurity?). The project?s only assumption is that the adversary does not know a secret key used to embed the mark. The work focuses on the development of the computational algorithms necessary to resolve several difficult issues and tradeoffs about what information to embed in the object, and where/how to embed it. A solution must not increase manufacturing cost and must be usable with the current manufacturing pipeline. The approach is inherently multidisciplinary, combining information hiding, computer vision/graphics, and robust algorithms. Hence, students in the project will acquire a unique combination of skills.