NIST-Proven Accuracy

NEC’s unsurpassed fingerprint matching algorithm provides high accuracy and selectivity regardless of the database size and print quality. Through a comprehensive range of tests, from small one-to-one verification all the way up to large-scale, high-volume identification matching, conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the results have validated NEC AFIS as the best in the industry.

Working with NEC means having access to decades of biometrics expertise and proven biometrics technologies that ensure performance, accuracy and reliability.

• FpVTE2003 - Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation 2003
• SlapSeg04 - Slap Fingerprint Segmentation Evaluation 2004
• MINEX04 - Minutiae Interoperability Exchange Test 2004
• NIST Proprietary Fingerprint Template(PFT) Testing

In FpVTE2003, NEC AFIS earned the top ranking for its unparalleled matching accuracy in all accuracy tests using real data sets. To be particularly noted is that, even when the data had poor quality, NEC AFIS showed remarkable performance standing out from all competitor AFIS systems by a substantial margin.

The FpVTE2003 was an international benchmark test of fingerprint matching, identification, and verification systems, conducted in the United States in 2003 under the control of one of the US’s most respected government authorities, the NIST.

Results shown from the NIST FpVTE2003 do not constitute endorsement of any particular system by the Government.

In SlapSeg04, NEC AFIS achieved the top score in segmentation accuracy. Additionally, NEC AFIS proved most accurate in hand and finger position identification.

Slap fingerprints (or slaps) are plain four-finger images taken by pressing the four fingers of one hand onto a scanner or fingerprint card simultaneously. Slap segmentation is the process by which a single image containing four fingerprint images is divided into four images of the individual fingers. The high accuracy of slap segmentation contributes to the total system cost performance.

The SlapSeg04 was conducted by the NIST in collaboration with the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (VISIT) Program Office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This evaluation determined the accuracy of the slap fingerprint segmentation algorithm (i.e., one component of AFIS) used to segment slap fingerprint images into individual fingerprint images.

The growing use of biometrics for security applications in immigration and border control has focused attention on the importance of interoperability among multiple matching systems. The MINEX, conducted by NIST and sponsored by the Justice Management Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security US-VISIT program, determines the feasibility of using minutiae data for the exchange of fingerprint information between dissimilar fingerprint matching systems.

In MINEX04, NEC AFIS was evaluated as one of the most accurate algorithms in the minutiae data exchange interoperability test. Where vendors own proprietary minutiae data was used, NEC AFIS earned the top ranking (i.e., proved overall superiority).