The National Institute of Standards and Technology: NIST Contributions to Biometrics Technology

Published

August 1, 2013

Author(s)

Bradford J. Wing

Abstract

NIST has been at the forefront of information technology in its application to biometrics for almost 50 years. Early work revolved around developing hardware and software to perform automated analysis of fingerprint images and development of voice recognition capabilities. As the biometrics industry grew, NIST developed publicly available datasets and testing procedures for evaluation of the performance of academic and commercial algorithms and equipment. These have been focused upon self- assessment, to spur innovation. In addition NIST developed ‘challenges’ and evaluations using sequestered data with publicly published results. The standardization of data interchange and development of best practice guidelines as well as data quality evaluation tools have been an essential part of NIST’s work in this field in order to foster reliability, fidelity and accuracy in the processing of biometric data.

Citation

IEEE IT Professional

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Biometrics, Standards

Citation

Wing, B. (2013), The National Institute of Standards and Technology: NIST Contributions to Biometrics Technology, IEEE IT Professional, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=914337 (Accessed October 14, 2025)