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Biometrics at NIST

Biometrics is the measurement of physiological characteristics like – but not limited to – fingerprint, iris patterns, or facial features that can be used to identify an individual. NIST has been conducting research in the area of biometrics for over 60 years, with work on fingerprint technologies for the FBI to support law enforcement and forensics dating back to the 1960's. 

NIST's biometric activities include:

  1. research on the various biometric modalities: fingerprint, face, iris, voice, DNA, and multimodal;

  2. standards development at the national and international level;

  3. and technology testing and evaluation, which leads to innovation. 

Created January 27, 2020, Updated April 5, 2022