TL;DR
- Tesla is using facial recognition in the advanced driver assistance systems of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles to ensure the driver is seated and paying attention
- The 2022 Kia K9 will include a fingerprint biometric authentication system to select between multiple personalized profiles
- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published a new head-mountable device patent application by Apple, which describes face biometrics for personalization
- In an update to its privacy policy last week, the popular social media video app TikTok has added a new section that allows it to “collect biometric identifiers and biometric information” from its users’ content
- Visa expands partner program with biometrics for digital-first payments experience
- NIST provides guidance for using mobile device biometrics to authenticate first responders
- Onfido is launching a new identity platform and facial authentication solution, the latter using FaceTec biometrics and liveness
- Mitek has acquired ID R&D for $49 million to integrate its face and voice biometrics and liveness detection capabilities
- NtechLab scores highest biometric matching accuracy rates in three NIST test categories
- CEA-Leti develops autonomous face biometrics imager for mobile devices and cars
- Biometrics partnership extended to IoT by Ambarella, Lumentum, On Semiconductor
- Low-power biometric wearables and IoT partnership formed by Winbond and Ambiq
- Smart Eye acquires Affectiva for eye-tracking biometric technology development
- AnyVision open letter calls on facial recognition providers to eliminate bias
- FacePhi face biometrics called up to top soccer league for stadium access
- Trueface acquired by Pangiam as biometrics market consolidation accelerates
- Dermalog awarded for biometric cameras, IDology for digital ID solutions
- Enacomm and REDi partner on biometric fraud control
- SecureAuth launches mobile SDK for developing passwordless authentication apps
- Hailo, Lanner pair on edge systems for rapid face biometrics processing
- 1Kosmos launches passwordless enterprise suite for biometric platform
- Samsung has Knowles’ all in the FamilyHub; developer kit for smart edge devices launched
- Precise Biometrics and Qualcomm fingerprint technology chosen for Sharp smartphone
- Osram introduces new infrared LED sensors for face biometrics in laptops
- Listening better and identifying from farther away — US intel agency touts new programs
- Aratek FAP45 biometric scanner and module with liveness detection launched
- Jumio biometrics to secure Klever crypto wallets
- Idemia and IDnow each close partnerships, update biometric onboarding solutions
- Economic developers donate to speed voice biometrics project for African tongues
- Implementations of the EU’s digital health pass are already moving forward in seven European countries, plus the Caribbean holdings of another
- EU officials are also considering the options for a digital ID wallet, in the form of a smartphone app possibly accessed through biometrics authentication, that could be used for public and private services access
- The UK government is continuing its work towards a unified digital ID for government service access, as Gov.uk matures
- PhilSys surpasses 10M biometric enrollments, online milestone
- India’s digital wallets to get transfer boost and incentives for KYC
- Cameroon launches enrollment campaign for biometric youth card
- Contactless biometrics estimated to bring in over $9B this year
- Biometrics industry events. And more!
Biometrics market
The Biometric system market size is projected to grow from USD 36.6 billion in 2020 to USD 68.6 billion by 2025; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.4% during the forecast period. Increasing use of biometrics in consumer electronic devices for authentication and identification purposes, the growing need for surveillance and security with the heightened threat of terrorist attacks, and the surging adoption of biometric technology in automotive applications are the major factor propelling the growth of the biometric system market.
Biometric Research & Development
Latest Researches:
Mobile robot takes orders from silhouetted hand gestures (not that one)
Researchers have created a new digital sense, something between vision and touch, for robots interacting with humans
A paper published by the Association for Computing Machinery describes how even a low-resolution camera on a computer or robot topped with a woven nylon tent could read hand shadows as biometric commands.
Although of marginal practical use by itself, the development by Cornell University researchers points in necessary directions for robotics and biometrics.
A demonstration video shows what looks approximately like a tube-shaped cloth hamper turned on its head and perched on a battery-powered four-wheeled base. The very top of the tube is angled not unlike a small kiosk.
A gesture recognition algorithm using densely connected convolutional networks to translate six fuzzy silhouettes into responses and actions.
The researchers report between 87.5 percent and 96 percent accuracy under three lighting conditions.
Most experimental and commercial systems use sensors on or under the exterior of systems. But as physicians can attest, any nerve-deadened areas of a body will not function appropriately and will fail, ultimately.
The bigger the robot and the farther and faster it travels in any direction, the bigger the cost of giving it a useful sense of touch. A development like this might lead in new directions for roboticists.
It could lead to an interesting solution to the question of privacy. Systems in a business or a home collect continuous video while operating, potentially revealing information their owners want kept secret.
The researchers illustrate this in the video by placing a translucent half-dome over a home digital assistant’s camera, allowing it to operate and potentially recognize gestures or detect actions without capturing high-resolution images.
Engineer sees through-the-wall surveillance as a net good — and very possible
An industry insider’s view of today’s surveillance and rescue systems that see through walls, published last week, will offer hope to some and a new source of fear to others.
Aly Fathy, a professor of engineering at the University of Tennessee, writes in an article in The Conversation, that scientists are developing tools that are expected to see through walls with facial recognition detail.
The advances are coming thanks to federal funding and by advances in radar sensors, algorithms, computer processing, millimeter wave wireless systems and wideband circuits. Together, they might deliver new levels of resolution and, almost as important, near-real time video.
Radar system sensitivity is growing, and that enables receivers to pick up softer reflected electromagnetic waves reflecting off solid objects on the other side of walls. Faster computer processors are digesting the incoming gouts of data. Better algorithms are translating the data into useful images for human interpretation, and in theory, maybe biometric matching.
Expensive and hard to deploy millimeter-wave wireless, which is the backbone of these tools, is evolving into a technology priced and configured for more mainstream and mobile roles, according to Fathy.
Although he opens his technology explainer with the tantalizing prospect of being able to see through rubble to find people buried in an earthquake, the electrical engineer’s work is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security.
The article offers no timelines and is cagey about what is reality and what is merely possible. Fathy delves into frothy speculation, saying the technology might be able to go beyond the already heady promise of facial recognition through walls to measure heartbeats and respiration, again without setting expectations accordingly.
Main News:
Tesla turns on facial recognition
Tesla is using facial recognition in the advanced driver assistance systems of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles to ensure the driver is seated and paying attention, Fox News reports.
The company’s CEO Elon Musk said initially they would be used to monitor people using the vehicles when they are being used for autonomous ride-hailing in case of vandalism.
The camera data is stored and processed locally within the vehicle.
A patent filing by Tesla for an AI automotive system suggests the company is working on using face biometrics to track passenger location within the vehicle or personalize settings.
The application for a ‘Context sensitive user interface for enhanced vehicle operation’ invention describes the use of an opt-in facial recognition system with local data storage, possibly sensing light from infrared emitters or projectors. It also describes the use of face detection without biometric recognition of who the individual is.
The patent application includes digital user interface features like shifting button location, and also describes the use of cameras to sense terrain.
Kia adds in-car fingerprint biometrics
The 2022 Kia K9 will include a fingerprint biometric authentication system to select between multiple personalized profiles, motor1.com writes.
Once the driver’s fingerprint is recognized, the vehicle can alter the seat position, climate control settings, and side mirror position. The digital instrument layout can also change.
Beyond personalization, fingerprint biometrics will also be used to authenticate payment in the Kia K9, according to the report, without scanning a payment card.
The car will be launched soon to the South Korean market.
Apple explores biometric technologies for VR applications
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published a new head-mountable device patent application by Apple, which describes face biometrics for personalization.
The new document, spotted by Patently Apple, specifically refers to the alignment mechanism for an optical assembly of head-mountable devices like smart eyeglasses.
Paving the way for Apple eyeglasses and mixed reality (MR) headsets, the patent describes the optimal alignments of sensors within head-mountable devices for biometrics capturing.
The novel alignment mechanisms aim to exploit the entire display capabilities of the display element in head-mountable devices, which are traditionally optimized for user experience only partially.
The new patent also specifically mentions a number of sensors for tracking biometric characteristics related to health and activity metrics. These include facial recognition, eye tracking, user mood detection, user emotion detection, and voice detection, among others.
Onfido partners with FaceTec to extend biometrics further into identity lifecycle
Onfido is launching a new platform extending the company’s flagship biometric identity verification to authentication and enterprise-grade security to provide businesses with high levels of assurance that their customers are who they say they are without compromising user experience of privacy.
The new Onfido Face Authenticate has been developed in partnership with FaceTec, enabling users to access existing accounts in seconds, and according to the announcement unlocking new revenue opportunities for digital products and services.
Mitek to integrate ID R&D biometrics for full transaction lifecycle security in $49M acquisition
In a major step towards biometrics industry consolidation, Mitek has acquired ID R&D for $49 million to integrate its face and voice biometrics and liveness detection capabilities.
ID R&D’s biometric capabilities provide protection against sophisticated identity theft and fraud techniques, such as deepfakes and synthetic voice augmentation to give customers the highest level of security against evolving threats while delivering an imperceptible consumer experience, according to the company announcement.
By integrating ID R&D’s biometric technologies, Mitek says it can now simplify and secure the entire transaction lifecycle for businesses and consumers with a single authentication solution. In addition to the integration, ID R&D will continue to operate under its own brand.
The companies also point to Juniper Research’s forecast that 1.4 billion consumers will use facial recognition to secure transactions by 2025, noting that emerging threats demonstrate the need for further innovation.
ID R&D’s passive liveness detection, which eliminates the actions fraudsters can mimic with deepfake technology, is lauded as an important technology in the fight against fraud.
NIST provides guidance for using mobile device biometrics to authenticate first responders
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued draft guidance on using mobile device biometrics to authenticate first responders to help public safety organizations adopt them effectively.
The guidance was composed by team members from NIST, Mitre, and Scarfone Security. It covers the critical role of biometrics in authentication and biometric components in systems, including FIDO authenticators, as well as challenges to mobile biometrics’ effectiveness. Sections are also dedicated to biometrics on shared mobile devices and future biometric developments. The latter section delves into wearable sensors, the quality of behavioral biometric data, and biometric fusion.
“Using biometrics with mobile devices could potentially help make authentication faster and easier, but there are challenges with mobile device biometrics in general and also specifically for first responders,” the draft notes.
Understanding just how effective the biometric systems of mobile devices are can be challenging, the guidance notes, due to the proprietary details of those technologies, and the corresponding lack of independent verification of claims.
NIST is seeking public comments on the draft until July 19, 2021.
DHS developing noise-tolerant voice and speech recognition
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and partners, meanwhile, have developed an automated speech recognition (ASR) technology to enable first responders to communicate hands-free and perform their emergency duties at the same time, according to a department release.
In a partnership with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and subcontractor Think-A-Move, DHS S&T developed the Direct Artificial Intelligence System Interface, or DAISI, to provide voice-activated capabilities in noisy environments.
S&T identified the reduced effectiveness of speech recognition systems in the presence of background noise as a challenge to situational awareness common in first responder situations. What really differentiates the system from existing technologies, according to the report, is its machine learning biometric capability.
DAISI can provide voice control over a mobile data terminal for initial communications with central dispatch, as well as information like hydrant location and friction loss calculation (a water pressure measurement) to save time. The WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders) system can also be accessed through DAISI to identify hazardous materials and guide precautionary action.
A prototype of DAISI has been tested by Maryland’s Howard County Department of Fire & Rescue Services over the past three years, and validated to meet more than 80 different requirements to respond to a wide range of potential scenarios.
Work continues to keep the word error rate below the 15 percent industry standard, and to make DAISI more robust, with efficient processing and strong connectivity.
NtechLab scores highest biometric matching accuracy rates in three NIST test categories
NtechLab is trumpeting its success in the recent Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in which the company’s facial recognition algorithm was found to have the highest biometric matching accuracy ever in three different categories of the 1:1 Verification benchmark.
The algorithm from NtechLab scored the lowest error rate in the Visa Photos, Visa Border and Border Photos categories, and second for the Mugshot Photos database. The company says it has also tested in the top three for efficiency in identifying people wearing masks.
More than 100 algorithms were submitted for the NIST benchmark from developers around the world.
AnyVision open letter calls on facial recognition providers to eliminate bias
Companies developing biometrics and artificial intelligence algorithms must rid their systems of demographic bias and make their methodology transparent, according to an open letter published by AnyVision in response to the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) call for public comment on its proposed method for evaluating user trust in AI systems.
NIST developed a document listing factors in the trust of AI systems and called for comments as part of an effort to stimulate debate on the topic.
AnyVision’s letter, signed by CEO Avi Golan and titled ‘Purging Demographic Bias while Increasing Transparency in Facial Recognition,’ emphasizes the importance of understanding the use case to evaluate how much trust users should place in systems. Golan describes the EU’s recent moves towards AI regulation, which categorize remote biometric identification as ‘high-risk,’ as an attempt to provide clarity around use cases.
Dermalog awarded for biometric cameras, IDology for digital ID solutions
Dermalog has won a German Innovation Award 2021 in the GOLD category for its multi-biometric camera technology.
The award was given to Dermalog by the German Design Council on the occasion of the fourth edition of the German Innovation Awards.
Dermalog’s multi-biometric cameras can reportedly detect users’ faces and iris in one second, and from a maximum distance of two meters. In addition, the biometric devices developed by the Hamburg-based firm can also measure body temperature via integrated thermal sensors, offering an efficient solution to improve health protection.
IDology has announced it has won a series of industry awards for its anti-fraud digital identity verification solutions.
The firm has been named Best Mobile Anti Fraud Solution at the CNP Customer Choice Award, and Organization of the Year at the Business Intelligence Group — Excellence in Customer Service Awards.
In addition, IDology won the Gold Winner for Identity & Access Security Solution title at the American Business Awards, and three separate awards at the Global InfoSec Awards.
TikTok’s now collects biometric ‘faceprints and voiceprints’ data
In an update to its privacy policy last week, the popular social media video app TikTok has added a new section that allows it to “collect biometric identifiers and biometric information” from its users’ content.
As reported by TechCrunch, the policy appears to allow the app to collect biometric information, which is the latest in a long, substantial list of data points that the company gleans from its large user base. This new section is found under the “Image and Audio Information” heading under “Information we collect automatically” in the company’s updated policy.
Biometrics partnership extended to IoT by Ambarella, Lumentum, On Semiconductor
Ambarella, Lumentum and ON Semiconductor have launched two joint reference designs under a collaborative partnership to accelerate the implementation of AI to internet of things devices for biometric access control, 3D electronic locks and other applications.
The AIoT partnership builds on the contactless biometric access control partnership formed by the three companies in early-2020.
Data from Lumentum’s VCSEL array illuminators and an image sensor from ON Semiconductor is combined using Ambarella’s AI system-on-chip (SoC) to provide higher levels of accuracy and more intelligent decision-making by IoT systems, the companies say.
The reference designs are intended for biometric access control and electronic locks, but can also address applications for smart cities, smart buildings and smart homes, as well as healthcare, according to the announcement. The high degree of integration in the joint solutions gives them lower power consumption and thermal design requirements, and enables smaller product form factors.
The Vision+ reference design performs single-camera, 940nm light sensing based on RGB-IR technology, which the companies say is a first in a 4K solution, and performs depth-sensing, AI and video processing on a single chip, with a range of two meters.
The Saturn reference design integrates AI processing for structured light sensing with a single camera and fast-boot video processing.
As part of the collaboration, Ambarella has added support for time-of-flight sensor adapters powered by Lumentum’s VCSEL arrays to its CV2 series processor-based development kits. The company’s open SDK for its CVflow AI processor is also intended to allow easy integration with third-party applications, and give OEMs the ability to address differing regional requirements within a single platform.
Low-power biometric wearables and IoT partnership formed by Winbond and Ambiq
Semiconductor memory supplier Winbond has partnered with Ambiq to manufacture ultra-low-power system solutions for IoT (Internet of Things) devices and wearables.
Following the beginning of the new collaboration, Ambiq’s Apollo4 SoC (system on a chip) and Winbond 256Mbx8 HyperRAM Hybrid Sleep Mode (HSM) will be integrated into a number of devices.
For context, the HyperRAM components are designed to deliver low power and low pin count, fast graphics, and UI display refresh optimization.
Ambiq’s Apollo4 ultra-low-power SoC is manufactured to act as an application processor as well as a coprocessor for battery-powered endpoint devices.
Initial testing has shown the IoT solutions and biometric wearable devices manufactured using Apollo4 and HyperRAM featured HSM power consumption levels of 50 percent when compared to traditional standby mode.
According to Dan Cermak, VP of Architecture and Product Planning at Ambiq, adding HyperRAM to Apollo4 enhances its low-power advantage and allows for quicker delivery of high-resolution graphics to improve the performance of IoT devices.
HyperRAM components, on the other hand, offer operation frequencies between 200MHz and 250MHz, together with 13 signal pads for the x8 version and 22 signal pads for the x16 one.
Commercial production of the new solutions is expected to start in 2022.
Enacomm and REDi partner on biometric fraud control
Enacomm and REDi have entered a new partnership to develop biometric solutions for fraud control and prevention.
As part of the new collaboration, REDi’s fraud control solutions will be integrated within Enacomm’s omnichannel biometric offerings.
Specifically, Enacomm will now provide communication channels for REDi’s alerts to all of its users, and Enacomm will integrate REDi’s fraud prevention technologies into Enacomm’s ViA (Virtual Interactive Analyst) and Fraud Control Module solutions.
ViA is a tool designed to provide real-time activity tracking, reporting, monitoring, and alerting, while Enacomm’s Fraud Control Module allows users to detect, track and respond to fraud attempts using voice biometrics across all channels where the ViA data collection system is deployed.
REDiVerfiy contributes a number of fraud-prevention features, including real-time, in-flight risk scoring and analytics, geolocation services, compromised card management, two-way transaction verification via text, and more.
SecureAuth launches mobile SDK for developing passwordless authentication apps
SecureAuth has launched a new mobile software development kit (SDK) to enable the creation of iOS or Android apps featuring an embedded mobile authenticator for multi-factor authentication (MFA).
The applications built using the SDK will allow customers to use their mobile devices as an authenticator to confirm passwordless browser access from other web devices.
Dubbed Invisible 2-FA, the new digital ID solution aims to support increased data security and protection of customer data and personally identifiable information (PII).
The announcement of the new SDK fits into SecureAuth’s wider strategy of expanding its presence in the world of cloud-hosted consumer identity and access management (CIAM).
To this end, the company has also recently partnered with PathCare, a healthcare provider based in South Africa, and ADT, a home security company headquartered in Florida.
According to a blog post on SecureAuth’s website, the firm believes that embedded authenticators are the future of mobile security and MFA, mainly due to their improvement of customer experience.
Hailo, Lanner pair on edge systems for rapid face biometrics processing
Hailo Technologies Ltd, a developer of specialized deep learning processors, has partnered with Lanner Electronics, a manufacturing and design firm, to build edge gateway devices capable of processing high volumes of video streams at the network edge. Facial recognition in smart city and retail environments are one potential beneficiary of the edge computing systems the pair plan to offer.
The amount of data coming from multiple video feeds in a surveillance system can overwhelm the internet connections used to send data to the central cloud for processing. Hailo’s chip enables high performance AI capabilities such as running face biometrics algorithms of 26 Tera Operations Per Second (TOPS) in edge devices while consuming less power than other chips.
The Hailo-8 AI module chip will be incorporated into Lanner’s LEC-2290 edge box, which is based on an x86 processor. The chip will also be offered in Lanner’s small-footprint LEC-7242 industrial wireless gateway that integrates the Hailo-8 into a fanless appliance for real-time edge AI applications. Both solutions process multiple video streams in real-time on a single device, while also enabling secure network connectivity.
Drayson brings 3X more power to biometric smart cards with Freevolt reference designs
Drayson Technologies has developed reference designs to provide ‘Plug-n-Play’ radio frequency energy harvesting for next-generation biometric smart cards, which the company says can deliver three times more power than technologies currently on the market.
The proprietary Freevolt RF system is recommended to power biometric cards for biometric access control, cryptocurrency, healthcare and finance applications. Like traditional smartcard power solutions, it draws energy from the card reader without changes to current infrastructure.
The backing of Innovate UK enabled Drayson’s team to use the Freevolt Generation 3 solution to develop standardized reference designs for integrators. This reduces both integration time and the amount of bespoke work necessary for different applications. The project’s output has also enabled Drayson to begin development of an in-house biometric smart card design with Freevolt technology and a novel adaptive capacitor-bank-in-card storage element, which also came out of the Innovate UK project, along with a high-efficiency RF communications switching mechanism, according to the announcement. This development unlocks new potential applications for cryptocurrency and secure access, the company says.
The research and development work generated novel inventions leading to new patent applications by Drayson Technologies, in addition to the energy harvesting efficiency and system design improvements. Drayson already holds 21 granted patents relating to its Freevolt technology and biometric smart cards.
The main benefit of the technology developed by Drayson over the past decade is to provide the additional energy needed for advanced processing and security capabilities, the company claims. Cards could also enable larger, more secure data stores.
Osram introduces new infrared LED sensors for face biometrics in laptops
Osram Opto Semiconductors has unveiled two miniaturized components designed to foster the development of biometric facial verification solutions in laptop applications.
The new SFH 4171S and SFH 4181S infrared LEDs (IREDs) emit wavelengths of respectively 850 nanometers and 940 nanometers and are built to satisfy slightly different consumer needs.
Similar in specifications, the SFH 4181S’ capabilities allow the component to avoid the so-called ‘red glow,’ which the human eye perceives as red flickering.
In terms of dimensions, both IREDs are installed in the Oslon P1616 package, which measures only 1.6 mm by 1.6 mm by 1.71 mm. This allows installation of the sensors in very slim laptop displays, featuring particularly narrow bezels. Despite their small packaging, however, both components can deliver an optical power of 1150 mW at 1 ampere and beam intensity of 680 mW/sr.
Thanks to their special primary optics bundling the light at a beam angle of 35 degrees, the sensors can improve performance values and enable their infrared camera to capture high-quality images for biometric matching, the company says.
Samsung has Knowles’ all in the FamilyHub; developer kit for smart edge devices launched
Knowles Corporation, a provider of micro-acoustic devices and audio processing technology, has released a development kit that will make it easier for appliance makers to build in voice-activation and speech recognition into their products. Knowles noted that Samsung has used the product in the FamilyHub connected hub for smart appliances.
The development kit, called the AISonic White Goods Standard Solution, is for OEM and ODMs to bring new smart appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, dryers and more to market with features such as voice-activated control with far-field speech recognition. The kit is built on Knowles’ AISonic Audio Edge Processor IA8201 and includes a reference board and supporting API for integration with processors. The kits include pre-integrated microphones, another product that Knowles specializes in developing for embedded applications.
One interesting feature that will broaden acceptance of the solution is support for multiple voice assistants to be integrated into a single device. The manufacturers do not have to bet on consumer acceptance of a single service such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant; consumers themselves activate the service they want by saying its name, according to Knowles. The wake word engine was developed by Sensory, Inc, a partner in Knowles’ Open DSP program.
CEA-Leti develops autonomous face biometrics imager for mobile devices and cars
France-based research institute Leti has unveiled an autonomous imager technology capable of activating mobile devices and small appliances via facial recognition, which it says is the first of its kind.
The new µWAI (micro-WAY) biometric device is as small as a coin, and features a readout and processing architecture with an optimized artificial intelligence (AI)-powered algorithmic pipeline. This means the recognition results from a sequence of elementary algorithms are used to provide ultra-low-power wake-up modes and compact silicon implementation.
According to CEA, a firm specializing in miniaturization technologies and Leti’s parent company, µWAI is the first-ever created sensor offering auto-exposure for all lighting conditions and 88dB dynamic range.
In addition, µWAI also features motion detection and biometric feature extraction capabilities for event-based functioning, as well as highly precise (95 percent reported accuracy) AI-based object recognition carried out at the network edge.
The device’s advanced features not only help manufacturers to keep costs down but also enable highly reliable decision-taking within a very small pJ/pixel/frame. For context, the term refers to the measure of energy spent by each pixel for every single image within a frame of images.
A typical implementation of the technology by a low-power camera plus processor set today roughly requires 10,000 times more energy than µWAI, according to the announcement.
The new biometric imager is powered by an always-on CR1025 battery, which should last around five years, and features a 3–6µW power rating, which is used in most internet of things (IoT) applications today.
Smart Eye acquires Affectiva for eye-tracking biometric technology development
Eye-tracking solutions provider firm Smart Eye announced it will acquire Affectiva for $73.5 million, thus expanding its presence in Boston, U.S., and Cairo, Egypt.
Following the acquisition, the new conglomerate will reportedly focus on the development of eye-tracking biometric technologies for applications in interior sensing, media analytics, and human factors research.
In addition, Smart Eye will now continue its work in improving automotive-grade interior sensing artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and biometric driver monitoring systems (DMS).
The integration of Affectiva’s AI with Smart Eye’s eye-tracking systems will now enable human factors researchers and marketers to achieve a more holistic view of people’s behaviors.
Listening better and identifying from farther away — US intel agency touts new programs
The U.S. government is teasing a couple of technologies it is pursuing for intelligence gathering teams, at least one of which could deliver intense amounts of biometric data and controversy.
Reporting on an armed forces conference this week, Signal magazine, made some educated guesses about developments hinted at by Director of Intelligence officials. One apparently involves whole-body biometrics gathering done from buildings and aerial drones. A second would seem to be amped-up machine translation of any language. In research, the systems reportedly have outperformed Google Translate in information retrieval, according to a government intelligence official quoted in the article.
Signal is published by AFCEA International, once known as the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, a group with roots reaching back to the U.S. Civil War. It was reporting this week on the group’s spring intelligence symposium.
Government researchers are crafting algorithms that can perform whole-body biometric identification, according to the article. Dustin Gard-Weiss, deputy director of national intelligence for policy and capabilities within the Office of the Director Intelligence, told a keynote audience.
According to the magazine, Gard-Weiss could have been discussing the Biometric Recognition and Identification at Altitude and Range project within the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity agency.
Known as Briar, the four-year program was the subject of a solicitation late last year. Its description there goes further, however, outlining how IDs would be made “at long-range and from elevated platforms.”
An initial presentation about Briar is dated October 2020, and an IARPA cash challenge related to what became Briar was held in 2018, according to those documents.
While face biometrics commonly battle with poor lighting, awkward camera angles and subject movement, the researchers in this instance must also overcome air quality and turbulence.
Economic developers donate to speed voice biometrics project for African tongues
Bill Gates’ philanthropic foundation and two international development groups are making a modest investment in efforts to expand the languages understood by speech and voice recognition apps.
It is a growing segment of biometrics. At least one other big name is trying to speed speech AI.
The trio has pledged $3.4 million to the open-source Mozilla Common Voice project as it expands a voice dataset for a prominent East African language. Mozilla, which has compiled datasets for 60 languages, wants to create open depositories for all languages.
The funders are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
Mozilla is the nonprofit that created the Firefox browser. The group works to see that the Internet is a public, open and accessible resource for people around the globe.
People can contribute their voices at the project site. Researchers, developers and businesses can use the resulting datasets to train products and services.
Kiswahili, the language benefiting from the funding, is spoken by the Swahili people, who live principally in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Mozilla says about 100 million people speak the language, but estimates vary greatly.
Mozilla claims that no native African languages are spoken by products from Amazon, Apple or Google.
Earlier this month, executives in Facebook’s AI lab said they have developed speech tools that are trained without supervision.
Contactless biometrics estimated to bring in over $9B this year
The global market for contactless biometrics will generate more than $9 billion in revenue this year, and will grow at a robust 16 percent compound annual growth rate over the next decade, Fact.MR forecasts. That rapid rate of increase would lead to a market of just under $40 billion by 2031.
The 170-page ‘Contactless Biometrics Market, Forecast, Trend, Analysis & Competition Tracking — Global Market Insights 2021 to 2031’ report breaks down the market by region and modality, and examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market.
These Weeks’ News by Categories
Access Control:
- Precise Biometrics, BIO-key, Beyond Identity each sign distribution partnerships
- 1Kosmos launches passwordless enterprise suite for biometric platform
- Voatz and Irisguard mobile biometric applications, Idemia mDL app honored
- Telpo launches multi-functional biometric time and access control device
- CMITech and Virdi biometrics integrated for Spanish contactless access control market
- Ping Identity partners with Auraya on voice biometrics, ProofID on PSD2 compliance
- Biometric access control and health check integrations unveiled
- Zero trust adoption grows as businesses suffer insider and privileged access breaches
Consumer Electronics:
- Tesla turns on facial recognition, Kia adds in-car fingerprint biometrics
- Apple patent filing shows Touch ID, biometric key on upcoming Macs
Financial Services:
- Visa expands partner program with biometrics for digital-first payments experience
- Biometric payment cards on the rise as contactless forecast to dominate
- Zwipe discusses biometric cards’ potential with FSS, closes MEPS deal
- TransUnion sees fraud attempts rise 24 percent among its customers globally
- India’s digital wallets to get transfer boost and incentives for KYC
- Enacomm and REDi partner on biometric fraud control
- Biometric payment cards can help banks build customer base post-COVID, says FPC
- Nigeria on course with digital banking drive as smart addressing system suggested for KYC
Civil / National ID:
- Europe reaches worldwide for digital health certificate standards
- Digital health pass with Vision-Box biometrics considered by India
- Zimbabwe contracts for biometric passports production
- India’s digital wallets to get transfer boost and incentives for KYC
- Cameroon launches enrollment campaign for biometric youth card
- Togo readies for biometric ID launch with awareness-raising campaign
- While others debate digital health passes, the EU has already hit the ground running
- Biometrically accessed digital wallet coming for EU citizens
- Aadhaar draft bill goes beyond biometric lock to protect against fraud
- Red Cross highlights opportunities for digital ID in humanitarian sector
- Kyrgyzstan launches biometric passport with advanced security features
- Philippines government calls on government to accept government-issued ID cards
- Elyctis launches smartphone tool for reading biometric ID documents
- $2M of MIT funding to solve world challenges including digital inclusion
- 1.4M Afghan refugees in Pakistan to receive new biometric ID cards
- NSW reaches 3 million mobile driver’s licenses amid advancing government digital ID
- UK plans single digital identity to access all services in an expanding government website
- HID Global delivers Estonia’s new biometric passport solution and document issuance software
- Are refugee responses enabling the future of digital ID and currencies?
- Pakistan blocks 3M refugees from COVID-19 jabs for lack of digital ID
- PhilSys surpasses 10M biometric enrollments, online milestone
- The first major digital health pass could begin rolling out in the EU within days
- Biometric ID, payment card use forecast as digital identity initiatives advance
- Role of biometrics and private sector in legal identity debated in UNDP event
Government Services & Elections:
- NSW reaches 3 million mobile driver’s licenses amid advancing government digital ID
- UK plans single digital identity to access all services in an expanding government website
- Cameroon launches enrollment campaign for biometric youth card
- Togo readies for biometric ID launch with awareness-raising campaign
- 1.4M Afghan refugees in Pakistan to receive new biometric ID cards
- PhilSys surpasses 10M biometric enrollments, online milestone
- Trust lacking as African digital ID systems expand
Facial Recognition:
- Contactless biometrics estimated to bring in over $9B this year
- UN ‘should follow EC’ in starting to regulate biometrics, artificial intelligence
- Idemia and IDnow each close partnerships, update biometric onboarding solutions
- FacePhi face biometrics called up to top soccer league for stadium access
- Like a nightmare come true: Killer robots fighting humanity’s wars
- New York Surveillance City: 15K cameras can feed facial recognition systems
- AnyVision open letter calls on facial recognition providers to eliminate bias
- Aviation stakeholders discuss biometric data sharing and digital health pass security
- Trueface acquired by Pangiam as biometrics market consolidation accelerates
- Hailo, Lanner pair on edge systems for rapid face biometrics processing
- Proctoring industry’s big moment is really a big black eye
- Washington county restricts facial recognition use by sheriff, country offices
- Onfido’s biometric data privacy arbitration case looks awfully iffy
- Allegations in wrongful arrest suit involving face biometrics against Apple, contractor get worse
- Osram introduces new infrared LED sensors for face biometrics in laptops
- Baltimore City Council proposes overarching ban on facial recognition, SIA calls for sanity
- ICE deploys mobile face biometrics to remotely monitor registered migrants
- Contactless corridor powered by face biometrics coming to UK immigration
- Australian HRC calls for partial facial recognition moratorium, new AI oversight
- CEA-Leti develops autonomous face biometrics imager for mobile devices and cars
- Imprivata launches face biometrics for healthcare through Aware and Idemia partnership
- Abbondanza! Clearview, opponents throw more spaghetti to see what sticks
- NtechLab scores highest biometric matching accuracy rates in three NIST test categories
- Shufti Pro, OneSpan, BioID biometrics selected for remote authentication
- Vix Vizion takes market lead as facial recognition deployed for gambling in South Australia
- Biometric access control and health check integrations unveiled
- Sogou uses biometrics to develop AI news anchor for hearing impaired
Fingerprint Recognition:
- Biometric payment cards can help banks build customer base post-COVID, says FPC
- Precise Biometrics and Qualcomm fingerprint technology chosen for Sharp smartphone
- Aratek FAP45 biometric scanner and module with liveness detection launched
- Next Biometrics lands $100K purchase order, FPC scores follow-on design win
- Biometric payment cards on the rise as contactless forecast to dominate
- Integrated Biometrics adds tough, anti-microbial coating to fingerprint scanners
- New fingerprint biometrics techniques unveiled by researchers
Iris / Eye Recognition
- Iris ID’s multi-biometric terminal integrated by mid-market time and attendance supplier
- Dermalog applies multi-modal biometrics expertise to flexible access control solution
Voice Biometrics
- Samsung has Knowles’ all in the FamilyHub; developer kit for smart edge devices launched
- Economic developers donate to speed voice biometrics project for African tongues
- China still finding outstretched Canadian palms when it comes to biometrics research
- Ping Identity partners with Auraya on voice biometrics, ProofID on PSD2 compliance
- Vodacom Tanzania introduces voice biometrics for access to services
Liveness Detection
- Jumio biometrics to secure Klever crypto wallets
- Mitek to integrate ID R&D biometrics for full transaction lifecycle security in $49M acquisition
- Aratek FAP45 biometric scanner and module with liveness detection launched
- FaceTec and Scytales combine mobile ID checks, biometrics and liveness
- Onfido partners with FaceTec to extend biometrics further into identity lifecycle
Wearables
- Biometric health innovations for wearables advance towards market
- Apple, Theia Interactive explore biometric technologies for VR applications
- Low-power biometric wearables and IoT partnership formed by Winbond and Ambiq
Mobile Biometrics
- Visa expands partner program with biometrics for digital-first payments experience
- NIST provides guidance for using mobile device biometrics to authenticate first responders
- FacePhi face biometrics called up to top soccer league for stadium access
- Capital One Ventures invests in Socure digital identity analytics
- Shufti Pro continues to expand, opens office in Ukraine
- Digital health pass with Vision-Box biometrics considered by India
- TransUnion sees fraud attempts rise 24 percent among its customers globally
- Voatz and Irisguard mobile biometric applications, Idemia mDL app honored
- While others debate digital health passes, the EU has already hit the ground running
- SecureAuth launches mobile SDK for developing passwordless authentication apps
- Idemia and IDnow each close partnerships, update biometric onboarding solutions
- Biometrically accessed digital wallet coming for EU citizens
- Jumio biometrics to secure Klever crypto wallets
- Biometric authentication market consolidates: Prove reaches UnifyID deal, Signicat acquires Encap
- Prodigy rolls out all-in-one biometric ID verification suite
- Nigeria on course with digital banking drive as smart addressing system suggested for KYC
- Elyctis launches smartphone tool for reading biometric ID documents
- Ingram Micro unit to distribute Jumio selfie biometrics, KYC to channel partners
- FaceTec and Scytales combine mobile ID checks, biometrics and liveness
- Shufti Pro, OneSpan, BioID biometrics selected for remote authentication
- Biometrics come to verifiable credentials with Applied Recognition and Sovrin Foundation
Biometrics Industry Events
EAB workshop on fingerprint image quality (NFIQ2.1): Jun 15, 2021 — Jun 16, 2021
FinTech Connect Toronto: Jun 15, 2021 — Jun 16, 2021
Identiverse: Jun 21, 2021 — Jun 23, 2021
Aviation Festival Asia: Jun 22, 2021 — Jun 23, 2021
Identify 2021: Jun 29, 2021
IFSEC International Connect 2021: Jul 12, 2021 — Jul 14, 2021
Security Exhibition & Conference 2021: Jul 21, 2021 — Jul 23, 2021
2nd CCTV EXPO: Jul 29, 2021 — Jul 30, 2021
5th India Homeland Security Expo: Jul 29, 2021 — Jul 30, 2021
6th International Police Expo: Jul 29, 2021 — Jul 30, 2021
The Security Event: Sep 7, 2021 — Sep 9, 2021
ICT Spring Europe 2021: Sep 14, 2021 — Sep 15, 2021
Forensics Europe Expo: Sep 14, 2021 — Sep 16, 2021
European Biometrics Max Snijder, Research, and Industry Awards 2021: Sep 15, 2021
BIOSIG 2021–20th International Conference of the Biometrics Special Interest Group: Sep 15, 2021 — Sep 17, 2021
The Biometrics Institute’s calendar of events for 2021:
MISC
- Will digital ID replace physical identity documents within 10 years?
- “Redefining Biometrics for the Next Decade of Digital Work and Life” webinar:
- Joy Buolamwini joins the Marketplace Tech podcast to explain the role of algorithm auditing in improving the accountability and reducing the potential biases of biometric systems, and what she means by the term “excoded.” Buolamwini says that the tension between corporate responsibility and fiduciary responsibility means external pressure is necessary to move towards ethical AI practice.
- Idemia India’s Matthew Foxton tells the Economic Times about the touchless biometrics and automated technologies the company has focussed on to keep its customers working during the pandemic. He also discusses Idemia’s hiring plans in the country, and how it sees its place in the Indian digital identity market.
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