Face, vein, fingerprint biometrics upgrades for physical access control systems announced

A facial recognition engine for access control from Tech5 has been updated, Centaman has added face biometrics to its own gates, while systems are being upgraded with biometrics from BioSec, SAFR, and Fingerprint Cards.

Tech5 has launched an updated facial recognition engine for touchless access control and time and attendance applications, with built-in mask detection.

The new T5-Face is suited for use in products designed for identification of people in non-cooperative situations, regardless of challenges like partial facial occlusion with masks or sunglasses, or poor lighting, according to the announcement. In cooperative-subject applications, or implemented on mobile devices, the system may ask people to lower their masks for faster and more accurate identification.

The T5-Face SDK provides 1:1 facial verification and 1:N identification biometrics, plus detection of masks, notifications to a central system for access management, and other functions. It can be integrated with time and attendance systems and with any mobile device with a built-in camera for access control and time and attendance solutions, the company says.

“Due to the increasing demand for touchless biometric solutions during the pandemic, we are cooperating with our partners to provide reliable biometric-based systems tailored for the access control market. Our latest algorithm with built-in mask detection allows for facial recognition on mobile devices in a fast and accurate manner to make sure that access is granted only to those individuals who are entitled to,” says Rahul Parthe, TECH5 co-founder and CTO.

Tech5 hardware manufacturing partners India-based Wyse Biometric Systems and South Korea-based AndOpen have already integrated the solution.

AndOpen Senior Vice President Alfred Oh says Tech5’s products demonstrate good enrollment performance and verification accuracy with low-quality images, and are light enough to run on lower-powered CPUs.

“After some initial tests, we did the first deployment of our system with T5-Face recognition software at a Premier Education Institution in Pune in June 2020,” says Y. D. Wadaskar, Managing Director, WYSE Biometrics Systems. “Encouraged by the response, we rolled out a further 70-80 T5-Face SDK-based recognition systems, partially replacing existing fingerprint-based systems as well as deploying new installations. Our deployments cover the entire spectrum of India, from Kolkata to Kerala. We also completed a successful trial with our devices in Kenya, overcoming our initial concern how the solution would perform on the African population. The system is working perfectly in all regions.”

Tech5 Co-founders Parthe and Machiel van der Harst will discuss T5-Mobile ID as one of 42 stops on ID4Africa’s 2020 World Innovation Tour, according to a LinkedIn post.

Centaman adds face biometrics to access control gates

Centaman Entrance Control has released a facial recognition add-on for its access control gates used in corporate offices, government buildings and leisure centers across Australia and New Zealand, according to a company announcement.

The company says its EasyAccess facial recognition reader provides fast and easy access through a gate or door and can be configured to enforce mask-wearing protocols. EasyAccess readers can store databases of up to 50,000 images, faces can be scanned from 3 meters away with spoofs with pictures and videos detected.

The solution also addresses the sometimes-prohibitive functionality and price of facial recognition to corporate offices in Australasia, according to Centaman Entrance Control General Manager Michael Bystram.

“The new EasyAccess reader is an effective system available at an accessible price point,” he states. “It is an ideal way for facility managers to provide secure contactless entry during the global COVID-19 pandemic and it also removes the need for authorised visitors to carry an access card with them at all times.”

The system can also be retrofitted to existing systems, and multiple devices linked together for centralized management.

Centaman has previously partnered with Idemia on biometric access control solutions, though it is not clear from the announcement who is providing the face biometric technology.

BioSec vein biometrics integrated with Siemens’ system

Siemens’ SIPORT access control and time tracking system is being integrated with BioSec’s LifePass authentication platform to bring biometric palm vein recognition

SIPORT provides access control from single locations to numerous network branch offices located in different time zones. The integration of BioSec vein recognition increases security without compromising convenience, and supports contactless authentication, according to the company announcement.

BioSec touts its technology’s natural resistance to theft or reproduction, as a measure of internal characteristics. The software measures 5 million reference points in vein structure in less than a second, the company says.

“With the integration of our LifePass biometric platform into Siemens’ SIPORT system, users can enjoy the benefits of both technologies in one solution,” BioSec Group CEO Péter Györgydeák comments.

SAFR  partners up with Setelsa Security

SAFR from RealNetworks has signed up Setelsa Security to integrate facial recognition with the Amper Group company’s secure access control and time and attendance systems.

Setelsa will provide SAFR biometrics to its clients in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Argentina for touchless authentication.

“SAFR from RealNetworks is an extremely solid, lean, and high-performance biometric solution that brings us not just face recognition, but also new innovations such as mask detection. SAFR’s strong ethics in the development and use of its biometric technology make it a perfect partner for Setelsa and our portfolio of selective clients,” states Sergio Gomez, CEO of Setelsa Security.

SAFR Senior Director of Product Management Eric Hess says that the company has strengthened its spoof detection with recent research into liveness assurance, in part supported by a grant from the U.S. Air Force. The liveness detection capability works on RGB video streams from a wide range of COTS camera types, according to the announcement, and is initially targeted at access control use cases.

The company also says its technology is now successful at identifying masked faces at a 98.85 percent rate.

One of Setelsa’s top banking sector clients will deploy the combined access control solution at multiple locations in the partnerships first project.

Fingerprint Cards sensor integrated with intelligent door system

A fingerprint biometric sensor from Fingerprint Cards has been integrated with a new intelligent door system for smart homes from Inotherm.

Inotherm is the largest manufacturer of aluminum doors in Europe, according to the announcement, and its new door system combines an automatic motor lock, a cable passage, a control unit and a power supply unit. The system is managed through a smartphone app.

Article Topics

access control  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  Biosec  |  facial recognition  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  SAFR  |  TECH5  |  vein recognition