US Army pandemic biometric access project awarded to Identity Strategy Partners

Defense personnel could soon navigate facilities with just their face biometrics. The U.S. Army has awarded Identity Strategy Partners (IdSP) a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project to develop next-generation secure and contactless biometric physical access control solutions known collectively as the Pandemic Entry & Automated Control Environment (PEACE).

PEACE would allow uniformed and civilian Department of Defense (DOD) staff routine access to relevant areas without the need for the Common Access Card (CAC card) currently in use. The CAC card is reportedly slow to grant access leading to lines forming. A contactless face biometric system is also hoped to reduce the chance of infections.

‘Team IdSP’ sees the firm work on the project with Tascent which specializes in multimodal biometric verification and was recently awarded a patent for combining iris and facial recognition profiles into a single algorithm.

“Tascent is excited to support IdSP in designing a modern, fast, contactless and easy-to-manage biometric access control system for the U.S. Army. Leveraging Tascent’s innovative face biometric technology, Team IdSP’s solution will strengthen base security and enhance user convenience, helping the Army improve efficiency and security in daily operations,” said Alastair Partington, CEO of Tascent.

Identity Strategy Partners was formed as a consultancy in 2017 by Janice Kephart and Mark Crego to provide technical and policy expertise to the identity market with particular expertise in the public sector.

The firm has recently been taking on new analysts, ahead of this announcement.

“We are excited to help the U.S. Army move beyond reliance on physical Common Access Cards, enabling its personnel to gain access to authorized spaces in a hygienic, secure and rapid way,” said IdSP CEO Janice Kephart.

“We will achieve this by integrating innovative access control processes and best-of-breed biometric technologies with existing DOD infrastructure.”

Article Topics

access control  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  contactless biometrics  |  Department of Defense  |  facial recognition  |  Identity Strategy Partners  |  Tascent  |  U.S. Army