Paravision and Innovatrics each score among biometric accuracy leaders in US federal agency testing

Paravision has scored the top rank among biometrics vendors from the U.S., UK and EU in matching accuracy for mugshot and webcam images in both “Identification” and “Investigation” modes of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) 1:N Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT), and fourth among all vendors.

The company also topped U.S., UK and EU biometrics vendors in identification mode for visa and border images, investigation mode for databases of 6 million or 12 million images, and investigation mode for aging faces, trailing only one non-Western vendor in the latter category. Paravision was also first among U.S., UK and EU vendors in investigation mode accuracy for profile images, and second globally.

Taken together, Paravision says the results show its performance for different image types, travel use cases, at scale, with older source images and in challenging conditions, as well as overall top performance among Western companies.

The latest NIST benchmark evaluates the fourth generation of Paravision’s face biometrics algorithm, and shows a reduction in error rates of between 25 and 30 percent from its previous submission.

“NIST FRVT is the gold-standard for benchmarking face recognition performance across a range of scenarios and meaningful datasets, and 1:N is the premier test within FRVT,” comments Paravision Chief Technology Officer Charlie Rice. “As a U.S.-based AI company, we’re proud to deliver world-class accuracy and raise the bar for western technology providers.”

“Achieving this level of accuracy isn’t just about delivering safety and security,” says Joey Pritikin, Paravision’s CPO. “It’s also about enabling our partners to deliver transformative customer experiences and outstanding efficiency across the widest range of users and use cases.”

The company recently released a set of AI Principles and brought a chief AI ethics advisor onboard.

Innovatrics places among performance leaders in DHS Biometric Technology Rally

The high precision of Innovatrics’ facial recognition algorithm has been confirmed in simulations of real-world conditions with multiple system models by the 2020 Biometric Technology Rally, held at the Maryland Test Facility operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the company says.

In a high throughput comparison of 6 biometrics acquisition systems and 13 matching systems, with 582 volunteers from 60 countries around the world, Innovatrics was found the most accurate in acquiring faces, detecting and capturing them from people on the go without making them look at the camera. Innovatrics placed in the top three for accuracy in matching both masked and unmasked faces and in various scenarios, with particular success in matching lower-quality images.

“As we continue to improve upon our already powerful facial recognition algorithm, we aim to provide the highest level of accuracy, security and convenience to our users. We believe our technology is instrumental in building solutions that elevate both public safety and the user experience,” comments Innovatrics SmartFace CTO Michal Vilagi.

The company also notes the increasing importance of effective, easy to use biometric systems which are accepted by users, as federal agencies ramp up their use of biometrics and public debate around its regulation intensifies.

Article Topics

accuracy  |  algorithms  |  Biometric Technology Rally  |  biometric testing  |  biometrics  |  DHS  |  Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT)  |  facial recognition  |  Innovatrics  |  Maryland Test Facility (MdTF)  |  NIST  |  Paravision