NIST unveils contactless fingerprint biometrics providers qualified for CRADA

NIST has completed the first phase of its vendor engagements under the Fast Capture (FastCap) program for evaluating contactless fingerprint technologies. Eighteen biometrics providers have joined the program under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) and have been working with NIST on testing their technologies, the company told Biometric Update in an email.

The testing stage included cooperative evaluations of the vendor technologies’ biometric acquisition capabilities, refinement of performance metrics and prototype testing for contactless rapid tenprint scanners.

Of the 18 participating technology providers, the 12 that have satisfied the qualification test criteria so far are: U.S.-based AA Technology, Australia-based Blue Biometrics, Gambit ID, which has offices in Canada and the U.S., Idemia, Identy, IDloop, Mentalix, Sciometrics, Synolo, Thales, Tech5 and Veridium.

The qualification holds up these biometrics developers as global leaders in contactless fingerprints.

The qualification testing was carried out based on NIST Special Publication 500-339, “Specification for Certification Testing of Contactless Fingerprint Acquisition Devices, 1.0,” published in April, 2023.

The specification emphasizes the “fundamental departure” that contactless fingerprint biometrics represent from legacy contact-based capture technologies. The steps, procedures and software for the tests, along with the properties to be measured, are defined in NIST SP 500-336. SP 500-336, “Specification for Interoperability Testing of Contactless Fingerprint Acquisition Devices, v1.0,” was published in 2022.

The same NIST document explains the creation of standardized test fingers for use in comparing the 2D images created by contact-based fingerprint scanners and the 3D images captured by contactless biometric scans.

Properties to be measured (measurands) include image entropy, signal to noise ratio, scale factor computations and NFIQ image quality assessment.

The next step is for NIST to assist organizations in carrying out various pilot projects involving these technologies. Phase Two of the FastCap initiative will involve more vendor engagement as well as government bodies to encourage the adoption of contactless biometrics. The qualification testing model will also be expanded into a framework for ongoing testing.

This post was updated at 2:37pm Eastern on September 1, 2026 to reflect comments from NIST.

Article Topics

biometric testing  |  contactless biometrics  |  Fast Capture (FastCap)  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  NIST