Cubox scores high mark in NIST paperless travel test, airport biometrics to grow four-fold

Cubox has scored the best result in the latest National Institute for Science and Technology Facial Recognition Vendor Test (NIST FRVT) for biometric accuracy in Paperless Travel, in the large database category.

The result comes as a report by Valour Consultancy and P.A. ID Strategies has projected that the installation of biometric solutions at touchpoints of smart airports is set to see significant growth, rising four-fold from now through 2030. Credentials available for travelers are also increasing, with the Ghana Card functioning as a biometric passport and a new health pass from Mindtree.

Cubox lauds NIST paperless test result

Cubox’ face biometrics algorithm was found to have a non-match rate of only 0.3 percent in matches against a database of 42,000 templates in the ‘Identification for Paperless Travel and Immigration’ test.

According to a company statement, the successful result follows an update of its facial recognition algorithms for the 1:1 Verification, 1:N Identification, Face Mask Effects, and Paperless Travel tests.

The announcement notes that the 1:1 and 1:N test presented the best accuracy scores, but the Paperless Travel and Immigration test is a closer simulation of real-life uses of the biometric algorithms.

Reacting to the test result, Cubox CEO Un-Sung Nam said: “As we are shifting to the recovery of normal life, society’s demand for an airport with non-contact system is becoming more important than anything else. In this situation, it is very meaningful to rank No. 1 in the world on the NIST FRVT Paperless Travel.”

“Starting from this achievement, we will actively promote our technology not only for the Korean airports but also at overseas airports and do our best to ensure that Korea’s AI technology can be widely applied,” added Nam.

Cubox also recently emerged atop the results of the NIST FRVT 1:N in the ‘VisaBorder’ category.

Biometrically-enabled airport touchpoints to increase

Titled “The Seamless Passenger Journey In Smart Airports,” the report notes that the integration of biometrics in smart airport touchpoints will see significant increase in the course of the next 10 years, according to a summary note from the company.

This, it adds, will be driven principally by the increase in efforts to modernize airport processes and the increasing adoption of digital identity.

According to the report, while already widely integrated into immigration kiosks and ABC eGates, biometric adoption in other touchpoints will rise rapidly over the next decade, with the coronavirus pandemic tending to be a propeller of this trend.

Self-bag drop will rise most significantly, with North America and Asia Pacific the largest growth markets. Kiosks will see a more modest growth rate — less than 70 percent in most regions — with a 12 percent decline in North America between now and 2030, the document states.

The report also looks at the state of the market in 2020 including revenue and the installation of biometric touchpoints by region, airport size and type. Valour and P.A. ID Strategies forecast that the smart airport market by 2025 will hit a revenue total of $386.1 million, up from $233.5 million last year.

Ghana’s digital ID card soon to be accepted as passport

Ghana’s vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has disclosed that the country’s biometric national ID card known as the Ghana Card will be used as a digital passport as from next year, Modern Ghana reports.

Speaking at a university lecture on the role of digital technology in economic growth, Bawumia said this will be possible as Ghana recently became the 79th country to be admitted to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Public Key Directory (PKD).

The vice president said when all will be set, Ghanaians holding the Ghana Card will be able to travel to 197 countries and to 44,000 airports across the world.

“It is not widely known that the Ghana Card is also an electronic passport (e-passport) that contains the biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of travelers. We have been working with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) this year to globally activate the e-passport function of the Ghana card and I am happy to announce that on 13th October 2021, Ghana officially became the 79th member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Public Key Directory (PKD) community. The ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) is a central repository for exchanging the information required to authenticate e-passports,” Modern Ghana quoted the vice president as saying.

He added that efforts are also underway to link the Ghana Card with the passport so that people’s travel history can be recorded.

Mindtree unveils Hyperledger-based health pass for travel

Mindtree has launched a solution dubbed Digital Health Pass for Travel which offers travelers an easy, quick and secure way to comply with country-specific entry requirements and protocols by helping them locate COVID-19 testing providers, schedule tests and make sure that test results meet their destination’s criteria.

According to an announcement from the company, the solution allows travelers to digitally store, manage, validate and share test results, vaccine certifications, self-attestations, travel authorization forms and other travel documents.

Venu Lambu, Executive Director and President, Global Markets, at Mindtree said the solution will help travelers deal with the confusion they sometimes face. “Mindtree’s digital health passport for travel is a comprehensive and long-term solution that addresses multiple aspects of travel-readiness and drives seamless, contactless and paperless travel health workflows. This makes it easier for travelers as well as authorities to make informed decisions, speed up processes and minimize health risks.”

The solution, built on a Hyperledger Fabric blockchain, can work with other apps of travel suppliers and can also be easily plugged into Evernym‘s verifiable credentials platform, Sherpa’s visa and travel rules API, International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Timatic passenger verification database, and Smartvel’s AI-powered travel solutions, the announcement mentions.

Daniela Barbosa, ED at the Hyperledger Foundation and GM of Blockchain, Healthcare and Identity for the Linux Foundation, said the solution will significantly boost travel safety.

“We are pleased that Mindtree has chosen Hyperledger Fabric’s modular, plug-and-play and versatile design for the solution to deliver speed, efficiency and performance at scale. As an industry-wide open-source initiative, Hyperledger Fabric also enables the solution to harness the latest innovation in blockchain technology. It is great to see Hyperledger technology being put to work to provide travelers with easy movements and uninterrupted flows, and help airlines, airports and authorities better meet regulatory safety requirements,” said Barbosa.

Article Topics

airports  |  biometric identification  |  biometric passport  |  biometrics  |  CUBOX  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT)  |  facial recognition  |  health passes  |  ICAO  |  NIST  |  travel and tourism