NIST testing and evaluations for biometrics solutions – a guide

Needless to say, biometrics have become an important authentication method for both physical and logical access control. Yet with so many biometrics solutions in the market, wouldn’t it be nice to have a certification or evaluation process based on which users can decide which ones to get? This is where users can benefit from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which runs various biometric testing programs that are highly respected in the market. This article takes a closer look.
 

What is NIST

 
Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory agency under the US Department of Commerce. The agency is charged with promoting innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology. According to NIST, from smart electric power grids to computer chips, a wide range of products and services rely in some way on the technology, measurement and standards provided by NIST.
 

Biometric standardization and testing

 
When it comes to biometrics, NIST has related standardization and testing programs. Its biometric activities include doing research on the various biometric modalities such as fingerprint, face, iris and voice; developing standards at the national and international level; and doing biometrics technology testing and evaluation. According to NIST, standardization is important as building effective biometric systems relies on quality standards, which enable the open exchange of biometric data between different agencies, provide guidance on how biometric systems are to be tested, and define methods for assessing the quality of the biometrics that are collected.
 

What tests are available

 
That said, NIST runs evaluations for different biometric modalities. According to NIST, these include the following:
 
Fingerprint: NIST has various fingerprint testing programs. One of them is the Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation (FpVTE), which evaluates fingerprint matching, identification and verification systems. FpVTE was designed to assess the capability of fingerprint systems to meet requirements for real-world applications small and large.
 
Face: NIST’s face technology evaluations are among the most respected in the industry. These include FRTE (Face Recognition Technology Evaluation) and FATE (Face Analysis Technology Evaluation) – the former deals with tracks that pertain to identity verification, while the latter deals with tracks that involve the processing and analysis of images. FRTE includes tests such as FRTE 1:1 and FRTE 1:N.
 
IRIS: The Iris Exchange (IREX) is an NIST-initiated evaluation program in support of an expanded marketplace of iris recognition applications. The work was initially conducted to support of the ISO/IEC 19794-6 standard and ISO/IEC 29794-6 standards (LINK2) and has subsequently been extended to assist implementers in large-scale adoption of iris recognition. The program covers both image quality and recognition accuracy.
 

Testimonies

 
Indeed, given the prestige of NIST’s biometrics evaluation programs, biometrics solutions providers who receive high scores or positive results can’t wait to annonunce them. NEC, for example, announced in April their face recognition technology was ranked the world's most accurate in NIST’s most recent benchmark test. The latest FRTE 1:N Identification report indicates that NEC's system received the highest performance rating with an authentication error rate of 0.07 percent using still images of 12 million people, the company said.
 
“Since its first participation in 2009, NEC has repeatedly been ranked first in the world in the 1:N authentication test, which requires higher accuracy than any other face recognition technology benchmark test sponsored by the NIST. Particularly, in the aging test, which uses images that are more than 10 years old, NEC has won first place with overwhelming accuracy that is unrivaled by any other organization,” NEC said.
 
Taiwan-based Cyberlink, meanwhile, touts their NIST-certified facial recognition accuracy of 99.83 percent. “This is NIST rating, not my rating. This is NIST that does this rating every year. We're 99.83 percent and we’re sure that it's you. So when we do access control, I know only the right people are getting in this building,” said Terry Schulenburg, VP of Business Development at Cyberlink, during an interview at ISC West.