Friday, November 9, 2007
SOURCE: International Biometric Group

National Institute of Justice Awards IBG Phase II Advanced Fingerprint Research Grant

International Biometric Group (IBG) will Provide Quantitative Research & Analysis of Level III Fingerprint Features at High Resolutions

New York City, NY - IBG has been chosen by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to continue advanced research on automated identification based on Level III friction ridge fingerprints. The Phase II award substantially expands the scope and depth of analysis of the first award, supporting ongoing Level III-oriented research and development in justice applications. IBG will perform millions of genuine and imposter comparisons, for each of the major classifications in the earlier image sets. Combined, these important NIJ awards are worth more than $840,000.

"Advanced research is critical in assisting government agencies in selecting the latest, most appropriate technologies that are operationally effective and requirement-sensitive. In support of this effort, IBG utilizes world-class engineering talent, providing them with unparalleled resources and cutting edge facilities, for advanced biometric research," said IBG partner Raj Nanavati.

IBG will refine extraction, encoding, and comparison techniques through large-scale processing of data collected in Phase I and develop automated Level III fingerprint matching software. IBG will perform data analysis and reduction, processing software implementation, core research into Level III characteristics and parameters, and program management. Previous research focused on high resolution capture for automated identification, finding ridge co-location to be substantially more accurate than pore location.

With millions in federally-funded advanced technology research experience over more than a decade, this grant continues IBG's history of successfully performing federally-funded advanced technology research, having worked on projects for the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, NIJ, US Army, and many others. Recent IBG federal research includes:

• DHS Independent Testing of Iris Recognition Technology (ITIRT)

• NIJ Efficient Field-Optimized Multimodal Biometric System (EFOMBS)

• TSA Qualified Product List (QPL) Testing

• US Army High Confidence Multimodal Biometric System Research

Since 1996, IBG has been the premier vendor-independent, technology-neutral developer and integrator of biometric systems, providing world-class security and identity management solutions for border control, transportation security, financial services, law enforcement, and other key markets.