Information Access Division Highlights - FY 2006

Information Access Division Highlights - FY 2006

September 2006

NIST Multimodal Biometric Application Resource Kit (MBARK) released:

The Multimodal Biometric Application Resource Kit (MBARK), developed in the Information Access Division to help in building improved biometric applications, is now available from NIST. MBARK, which includes example applications and public-domain source code, can help reduce the complexity and costs of building multimodal biometric systems. It provides standardized, flexible middleware software that will enable organizations to plug in sensors from different manufacturers, saving dollars and time. MBARK may be leveraged to develop the next-generation of biometric and personal identity verification applications. MBARK can also used by government and industry to develop standards and tests for biometric system interoperability and usability.

Biometric technologies increasingly are being used by government and the private sector to authenticate a person's identity, provide security at the nation's borders and restrict access to secure sites. MBARK was developed as part of NIST's homeland security responsibilities and was funded by the Science and Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The USA Patriot Act and the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act calls for NIST to develop and certify standards for verifying the identity of individuals and determining the accuracy of biometric technologies, including fingerprints, facial recognition and iris recognition.

For technical information and to download MBARK, go to http://www.itl.nist.gov/iad/894.03/nigos/nigos.html.

Additional details are also available in the NIST Tech Beat article at: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2006_0720.htm#mbark.

Contact: Ross Micheals, x3234.

March 2006

ITL Contributes to Humanoid Animation Standard:

Sandy Ressler, Information Access Division, was a key contributor to a Humanoid Animation (H-ANIM) standard, which was recently approved by final ballot by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The official name is "ISO/IEC 19774 Information technology -- Computer graphics and image processing -- Humanoid Animation (H-Anim)." Developed with the Web3D Consortium, the standard allows for the interoperable representation of human figures for animation and human modeling systems. Ressler integrated work from the CAESAR (human anthropometric survey) project with the 3D community to make the standard useful for both engineering design and entertainment applications.

CONTACT: Sandy Ressler (ITL), ext. 3549

(edited by Liz Lennon from Sandy's draft March 2006 (for April 2006 edition)

October 2005

ITL Assists in the Development of Five INCITS Standards that foster Accessibility to Information Technology Sources:

Over the past three years, the Information Access Division (IAD) has actively helped the InterNational Committee for Information Technology (INCITS) V2 Technical Committee in the development of five universal remote console standards. On September 19, 2005 the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) announced the adoption of these standards. The five approved standards are: Protocol to Facilitate Operation of Information and Electronic Products through Remote and Alternative Interfaces and Intelligent Agents: Universal Remote Console (URC) (ANSI INCITS 389-2005), User Interface Socket Description (ANSI INCITS 390-2005), Presentation Templates (ANSI INCITS 391-2005), Target Description (ANSI INCITS 392-2005), and Resource Description (ANSI INCITS 393-2005).

In the development of these standards, IAD provided invaluable resources including: technical reviews and editorial changes to the standard specifications, writing XML schemas, implementing a prototype environment for testing the specifications of the standards, and coordinating meetings. The prototype environment has provided much needed verification of the standard specifications and is available for testing future enhancements. The XML schemas are critical for the legal building blocks of XML documents that are required by industry when implementing the standards.

When adopted by industry, these standards will provide a way for products to disclose information about their functions and controls to the URC (i.e., a cell phone, computer, and/or handheld organizer). The URC could then be easily configured by users to display only the functions that they need.

Through INCITS V2's International Representative to ISO SC35 a working draft of these ANSI standards are being developed for adoption as an international standard.

CONTACT: Charles Sheppard, ext. 3269