It is essential to be familiar with concepts of the biometric industry and understand the terminology used. Below, we present the most common terms that will be recurring in this industry and in our BioPass ID documentation.
API
API stands for Application Programming Interface.
An API functions as a bridge that connects two or more types of software, through the combination of programming instructions and standards that form an intelligent interface, capable of establishing this interaction.
SDK
SDK stands for Software Development Kit.
The SDK functions as a set of tools that enable the creation of new functionalities and applications that can be added to existing or newly created products.
These “kits” can gather various utilities such as technical notes, libraries, databases, codes, among other options to be manipulated and used according to each demand during the development of applications.
Biometrics
The term biometrics comes from the ancient Greek bios = “life” and metron = “measure”. Biometrics refers to the entire class of technologies and techniques for uniquely identifying humans. Although biometric technology has various uses, its main goal is to provide a more secure alternative to traditional access control systems used to protect personal or corporate assets.
Multibiometrics
The security factor that has a low chance of failure represents who we are: our face, our signature, our fingerprint. A multibiometric system is one that authenticates using more than one source of biometric information.
Face Liveness
Face Liveness emerged as a way to combat fraud and ensure the integrity of facial biometrics as a means of authentication or identity verification. While facial recognition can accurately answer the question “Is this the right person?”, it does not answer the question “Is this person real?”. This is the role of Face Liveness.
Face Liveness works alongside facial recognition to determine if a biometric sample is being captured from a real person present at the moment of capture, preventing fraudsters from using presentation attacks to bypass a facial recognition system.
AFIS
AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) is a large-scale system capable of performing millions of fingerprint matching operations per second.
ABIS
ABIS (Automated Biometric Identification Systems) are used for large-scale biometric identity management, supporting fingerprint, facial, and other characteristic recognition.
Used by law enforcement for identification tasks and biometric duplication processes in issuing official documents and criminal investigation, BioPass ID ABIS has been tested under the most adverse conditions and has helped prevent numerous identification frauds and solve countless crimes.
Biometric Modality
In simple terms, a biometric modality is a face, a finger, a pair of eyes, or palms; basically, a body part that can be captured and processed later.
Template
A mathematical representation of a biometric characteristic or trait extracted from a biometric sample and used for identification or verification purposes.
False Acceptance Rate (FAR)
The probability that the system incorrectly identifies a match between a non-matching pattern in the database. It is represented by the percentage of invalid entries that are incorrectly accepted. The term False Match Rate (FMR) can also be used.
False Rejection Rate (FRR)
The probability that the system fails to detect a match between the input pattern and a corresponding template in the database. It is represented by the percentage of valid entries incorrectly rejected. Occasionally, the term False Non-Match Rate (FNMR) is also used.