Griaule ranks among top fingerprint biometrics providers in MINEX III

Brazil-based biometrics provider Griaule has placed sixth among global providers for fingerprint recognition accuracy, and first in Latin America, in an evaluation by NIST, according to a company announcement.

NIST has evaluated 32 fingerprint biometrics providers under the MINEX III program so far.

Griaule’s results in the Minutiae Interoperability Exchange (MINEX) III include a false non-match rate (FNMR) of 0.0064 percent at false match rate (FMR) 0.0001 in “native” single-finger comparisons. In MINEX, “native” refers to matches performed on templates created with the same biometric provider’s generator, while “pooled” refers to match attempts with templates from various compliant generators.

In the comparison of both index fingers, which Griaule refers to as “the main test,” the company says it placed third with an error rate of 0.022 percent. The leading matching algorithm is only slightly better, at 0.020 percent. Griaule’s pooled result by FNMR at FMR 0.01 was 0.00024, again only slightly behind the top FMR of 0.00022.

“This gap is minimal for a test that simulates real-world scenarios, and Griaule achieved a performance very close to the world’s best algorithm,” says Griaule Business Director Thiago Ribeiro. “The main test simulates when people place two fingers on the control sensor upon entering countries. In practice, algorithms can prevent physical bottlenecks by reducing waiting time at border control, without compromising identification effectiveness and reinforcing the company’s commitment to the continuous development of cutting-edge technology to further combat identity fraud in the country.”

MINEX III evaluates fingerprint biometric template generation and matching algorithms to establish and confirm compliance with the Personal Identity Verification (PIV) program run by the U.S. government. Ribeiro notes in the announcement Griaule has had PIV certification for years, but highlighted the improvements the evaluation shows in its technology’s performance.

The company says it has collected about 30 international certifications and awards from world-renowned institutions like NIST and the FBI in total.

Griaule supplies biometric technology to Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to manage the country’s national identity database, which holds close to 160 million records.

Article Topics

accuracy  |  biometric matching  |  biometric testing  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  Griaule Biometrics  |  MINEX III