August 29, 2007

National group for biometrics standards to meet at Purdue

The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) M1 technical committee meeting will take place from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30-6 p.m. Sept. 24-27 in rooms 307 and 311 of Stewart Center. The Biometric Standards, Performance and Assurance Laboratory at Purdue is the event's host.

Biometrics refers to technologies that measure and analyze human body characteristics - such as fingerprints, eye retinas and irises, voice patterns, vein patterns, facial patterns and hand measurements - for authentication purposes.

Stephen Elliott, associate professor of industrial technology and director of the laboratory, said the standards meeting will include technical experts from biometrics companies, government agencies, academics who study biometrics and industry vendors.

The purpose of the meeting is for members to discuss issues involving the standardization of biometric data interchange formats, including face, finger and iris recognition; biometric interface standards and performance testing; and reporting standards. Elliott said that authentication systems based on these standards should work the same among companies and countries, and they also support maintaining optimal security and systems reliability.

The M1 group that will meet at Purdue is a subgroup of INCITS and is responsible for developing biometric standards in the United States. M1 also serves as the U.S. technical advisory group for the international committee for biometric standards, said Lisa Rajchel, director of international secretariats at the American National Standards Institute and committee secretary. M1 also is responsible for establishing U.S. technical and policy positions on biometrics in the international arena, Rajchel said.

The M1 group last met at Purdue in 2004.

Elliott said having the meeting at Purdue will allow his students an opportunity to interact with industry officials and experts in the field. Elliott is working with two undergraduates, five master's degree students and three doctoral students on various projects in the biometric standards lab at Purdue.

Biometric technologies are increasingly common for businesses to prevent unauthorized access to buildings, keep track of employee time and attendance, and prevent customers from "double dipping" on services. In the Lafayette area, biometric technology is used at kiosks at Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union, in tanning salons, and for time and attendance in workplaces.

The Biometric Standards, Performance and Assurance Laboratory is housed in the Department of Industrial Technology. In the lab, researchers and students test and evaluate equipment for iris, vein, hand, fingerprint, signature, keystroke and face recognition. In addition, courses in automatic identification, data capture and biometric technology and applications are taught in the lab.

Writer: Kim Medaris, (765) 494-6998, kmedaris@purdue.edu

Sources: Stephen Elliott, (765) 496-2474, elliott@purdue.edu

Lisa Rajchel, (212) 642-4932, lrajchel@ansi.org

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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