Amadeus liveness detection for biometric travel passes BixeLab Level 1 and 2 PAD tests

BixeLab has completed an independent ISO/IEC 30107-3-compliant biometric presentation attack detection (PAD) test of the liveness detection capability in Amadeus’ BioPod Econ and BioPod Alvium Seamless Pod devices.

The evaluation is important because airports, airlines, and border authorities are moving more passenger identity checks into self-service, semi-automated, and contactless biometric workflows. In those environments, biometric systems are expected to verify travelers quickly while also resisting attempts to deceive the camera or sensor.

The 2025 Face Liveness Market Report and Buyer’s Guide from Biometric Update and Goode Intelligence forecasts the number of facial liveness detections performed will surpass 50.5 billion next year.

The evaluations give procurement teams and border agencies evidence to assess the effectiveness of the biometric devices against presentation attacks, rather than relying only on vendor claims.

Level 1 and 2 back-to-back for BioPod devices

BixeLab conducted the PAD evaluation between May 8 and June 15, 2026, at its headquarters in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

For the Level 1 evaluation, BixeLab used six Level 1 presentation attack instrument species for the face modality. The test included 300 Level 1 presentation attack transactions and 60 bona fide presentation transactions across 12 demographically diverse test subjects. Ten of those subjects were also used as source subjects for the Level 1 presentation attack instruments.

The Level 1 results showed no presentation attack classification errors on either device. Both the BioPod Econ and BioPod Alvium recorded zero classification errors across the 300 Level 1 presentation attacks.

The bona fide results differed between the two devices: the BioPod Alvium recorded 5 classification errors across 60 bona fide presentations, whereas the BioPod Econ recorded 0 classification errors.

BixeLab also conducted a Level 2 evaluation using six Level 2 presentation attacks for the face modality. The BioPod Alvium recorded 10 classification errors across 300 Level 2 presentation attacks, with 7 of those errors occurring during balaclava tests. The BioPod Econ recorded 9 classification errors, with 8 of those errors coming from balaclava tests.

Amadeus in biometric travel infrastructure

The BixeLab evaluation is part of Amadeus’ push into biometric travel and border processing infrastructure. Amadeus markets biometric systems for airports and border authorities, including touchpoints such as kiosks, biometric gates, mobile checkpoints, and BioPods.

Amadeus has showcased its capabilities at Indonesia’s biometric corridors. The company said on-the-move biometric processing was used to validate travelers’ identities, with more than 50,000 Hajj pilgrims processed. This is a more-than-tenfold capacity increase compared with biometric eGates.

The BixeLab evaluation adds a standards-based assurance layer by focusing on one of the most important questions for real-world deployment: whether the biometric device can differentiate between a live passenger and an attempted presentation attack.

And Amadeus’ role in airport infrastructure will only grow if its planned acquisition of Idemia Public Security for €1.2 billion goes through.

Article Topics

Amadeus  |  biometric liveness detection  |  biometric testing  |  biometrics  |  BixeLab  |  face biometrics  |  ISO/IEC 30107-3  |  presentation attack detection