Sciometrics SlapShot app powered by Innovatrics AFIS engine

Earlier this week, Sciometrics’ SlapShot App, which allows AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) fingerprint verifications using standard smartphone cameras, entered beta testing.

According to a statement by the company, Sciometrics’ vision is to replace fingerprint authentication hardware with software which operates with standard cameras in smartphones, tablets and laptops to reduce the cost of security for both users and device manufacturers.

“This is the first step in our vision to geometrically expand fingerprint authentication as means of enhancing both physical and cyber security,” said Mark Walch, president of Sciometrics. “We start by enabling smartphones to check identities against existing fingerprint databases, thereby enabling a rapid and cost-effective expansion of fingerprint verification with devices already in the hands of law enforcement officers.

“As a second step, later this year we will release a software development kit which will be embedded in third party apps such a banking, secure communications and civil identity apps. This technology will represent the strongest mobile authentication available – up to ten fingers plus face recognition – using only standard sensors in smart phones.”

Sciometrics’ fingerprint technology will operate across users’ various devices and across Android and iOS operating systems, offering ubiquitous authentication. SlapShot is the first step in that vision, verifying up to to ten fingers against an AFIS from three quick pictures (two each of four fingers, or ‘slaps’, plus one picture of two thumbs held together) taken in under 35 seconds without touching the subject.

SlapShot includes face recognition and the ability to add customized information such as geo-location and driver’s license (barcode) data.

The first version of SlapShot is powered by Sciometrics’ first AFIS partner, Innovatrics, using its off-the-shelf AFIS engine. Sciometrics’ proprietary ridgeflow-based matching system, currently in use by U.S. Federal and European Union agencies, will also be deployed because it performs better than traditional minutiae-based systems on the worn fingerprints of people who work with their hands.

Also announced this week, the algorithm that is part of Innovatrics’ newest generation of AFIS increased the speed of fingerprint matches by 88 percent, from 383 million last year to 720 million matches per second this year.

“We are delighted that every generation of our algorithm delivers extraordinary results,” notes Jan Lunter, chief technology officer of Innovatrics. “With these results, Innovatrics provides the fastest AFIS solution available on the market in identity management projects.”

These results were achieved on platforms based on the new Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2699 v4 and compared with the previous one, Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2697 v3.

Article Topics

AFIS  |  biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  fingerprint authentication  |  identity verification  |  Innovatrics  |  mobile app  |  Sciometrics  |  smartphones