Conveniant, advanced, secure and touchless fingerprint scanning for identification purposes

Project Information

cast

Grant agreement ID: 190188065

DOI

10.3030/190188065

Project closed

EC signature date 11 April 2023

Start date 1 March 2023

End date 28 February 2025

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost

€ 5 717 750,00

EU contribution

€ 2 500 000,00

Coordinated by

IDLOOP GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - cast (Conveniant, advanced, secure and touchless fingerprint scanning for identification purposes)

Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The use of fingerprints for identification has a centuries-long history. More than three billion people have their fingerprints recorded in large government biometric databases. The fingerprint is a precise biometric feature that is very well accepted by users and is the gold standard for biometric identification. All current fingerprint scanners for the government market are contact-based. They get scratched, are unhygienic, need to be cleaned, are easy to counterfeit and you leave your fingerprints as latent prints on the device.

As part of the EIC project 'cast', a product for contactless fingerprint capture using optical 3D technology is to be brought to market maturity. This will capture the micriscopic ridge and valley structure of the human finger in full 3D, enabling clear differentiation between the ridges and valleys of the fingerprint and ensuring interoperability with contact-based scanners that only scan the ridges in 2D. This interoperability enables access to the government biometrics market, where compatibility with existing databases is a must. In addition, the 3D scanner is difficult to counterfeit, as the 3D structure of the finger with its fine 3D details is difficult to preserve and reproduce. This gives the system an enormous security gain compared to contact-based systems, where you leave your fingerprints as latent prints on the device.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project involved working on algorithms to deal even better with the movement of the hand during 3D recording, optimising calibration, improving image quality and increasing the speed of data processing.

The demonstrator has been further developed, it is now smaller and the image quality is higher. In contrast to the POC, the device now has a common power supply for all components and the device can be easily initialised, maintained and operated via USB. To achieve this, own electronic components and special camera optics were developed.

The optical arrangement in the device is now dust-free and splash-proof. A special cooling concept was developed for this purpose, which cools the electronic components reliably, quietly and in a space-saving manner without allowing air exchange with the environment. The arrangement of all components, their mounting and the housing itself have been redesigned for this purpose. The new design is also suitable for low-cost series production.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Thanks to the technical advances in the further development of the scanner, the next product revision in mid-2024 will be able to tackle relevant certifications that are necessary for market approval, such as CE, UL and the official FBI certification. Preparations for this are already underway.

In Q3, samples of the device will be sent to the relevant laboratories and certification bodies so that all relevant certifications for the first key markets have been obtained by the beginning of Q4.

Four patents for the contactless FP-device have already been filed. Further design applications and utility model applications will follow in Q3. There is already an infringement analysis from 2021, which shows that no third-party property rights were infringed at that time. A comprehensive new FTO analysis has been commissioned. The result is also expected in Q3 2024.

The targets for 2024 are achievable with existing financing components consisting of subsidies, sales and investment.

The transfer to series production will begin in Q4. Further financial resources will be required for this in the following 24 months, as well as for the establishment of an international sales and service structure. This will require a successful financing round at the end of 2024.

3D point cloud of four fingers, captured with the IDloop device

3D point cloud of the full hand, captured with the IDloop device