Crossing Borders with Biometrics and RFID

Technologies in National IDs
Despite public complaints, biometrics and RFID are making headway in national ID projects. Deployment requires many things, of which convenience, efficiency, accuracy and reliability are paramount.

Biometrics
For biometrics, enrollment needs to be convenient and easy. National ID projects involve hundreds of thousands of individuals, so fixed and mobile enrollment stations help agencies cover more people, Kendall said. The system must also be highly accurate in identifying both legitimate citizens and imposters.


With facial recognition, it is fairly standard to obtain multiple samples of the same face in different positions, from different sources and at different times, said Algimantas Malickas, CEO of Neurotechnology. This improves matching quality. For example, a person can be enrolled with or without glasses, a mustache, smiling, and so on. Enrolling each sample takes only a few seconds, but the full process may take more time, depending on the number of samples taken.


Speed of enrollment and matching is also a top concern. If these processes are time-consuming, governments will refrain from using them.


"Our fingerprint technologies can match up to 40,000,000 fingerprints per second," Malickas said. "Faces can be detected and processed in milliseconds, depending on the defined template size."


RFID
The introduction of RFID-based identity documents enhances the overall security standard for national IDs. E-passports are among the first identity documents equipped with RFID technology. "Today, more and more identity documents, such as ID cards, pass cards for border crossing, drivers' licenses, health cards, public services cards and so on, are based on RFID," Kuschewski said.


These chips are being used to store biometric data and provide information electronically during credential verification processes, said Uwe Richter, Senior VP of Product Management at Cross Match Technologies.


RFID tags satisfy the demand for convenience because of their touch-and-go capabilities. RFID chips tend to be more durable than contact technologies, said Stephen Price-Francis, VP of Marketing at LaserCard. They facilitate long-range wireless communication of a serial or file number to a reader, and can notify border inspection systems of the smart card's impending arrival. This is useful for reducing delay at busy border crossings, such as checkpoints between the U.S. and Mexico.


In terms of durability, RFID hardware typically has an expected lifespan of up to 10 years, said Dimas Ulacio, Program Manager of Identity Solutions at Smartmatic. However, though the tag itself can operate for a long time, environmental factors can cause it to fail much sooner.


The weakest part of the system is where the antenna connects to the chip. "In flexible documents such as a passport, I have seen chips fail in a matter of months, when the document is heavily used or carried in the back pocket of pants. If the chip gets wet, or is subjected to high humidity, it can fail," said Richard Search, Directorof Program Management at Animetrics.


This produces a twofold dilemma: the individual holds a valid but electronically disabled document, Search said. The inspector must then make a decision based on incomplete information. Additionally, the individual needs to repair the faulty ID, causing inconvenience and extra cost.


"This problem will become more pervasive as RFID chips are used longer and fail on a larger scale," Search said. Facial recognition provides an additional level of security if the RFID chip fails.


While the introduction of biometrics and RFID technologies have advanced document security, they do not necessarily provide a comprehensive solution preventing document and identity fraud, especially where readers are not available, Price-Francis said. Government and national organizations are turning to multilayered approaches that combine a set of technologies onto a single credential. The next-generation U.S. Permanent Resident Card, launched in May of this year, is a recent example.


Pilot Schemes
Experts agree that pilot runs are necessary to highlight real-life operational problems. "This part of the program enables the customer and supplier to identify specific local issues — from staff training needs to distribution, logistical or technology problems, including equipment performance in diverse climates," Price-Francis said.


Local conditions could cause problems that need to be taken care of before a large-scale rollout, such as insufficient storage; production and operations; limited bandwidth; power shortages and voltage fluctuations; and dispersion of the population in remote and inaccessible places, Ulacio said.


Optimizing these conditions can involve simple and specific adjustments, such as modifying holders for fingerprint readers to be mounted in a slanted position on a counter, Richter said.


Culture and religious considerations also play a role. "In some countries, fingerprints are associated with crime and are unpopular. For this reason, Australians, for example, prefer facial biometrics for civil applications, whereas Indians, who have been using fingerprints for several years to authenticate legal documents, are rolling out large-scale fingerprint biometrics for national IDs,"Kendall said.