Warwick fingerprint spin-out seals deal with distribution partner

Licensing

Fingerprint identification developed at Warwick University, UK, and spun out into a start-up company, Warwick Warp Ltd, has now been licensed by Data Collection Strategies (DCS), a specialist in access control for the construction industry. DCS has now deployed the technology for biometric identification and staff management on six building sites.

Rodney Holland, Managing Director of Data Collection Strategies, said, “This is the first time I have seen a biometrics system that works reliably with the type of poor quality fingerprints we see routinely in the construction industry. We have already installed Warwick Warp’s BioLog system at six major sites.” Holland added that the system is proving to be fast and accurate, and helps to eliminate the practice of colleagues clocking on for each other, as can happen with card-based access systems.

The technology can identify partial, distorted, scratched, or smudged fingerprints in just a few seconds. While other systems for using fingerprints in biometric identification systems identify a few key features of a fingerprint and match them against a database of templates, the Warwick Warp system assesses the whole print, transforming the topological pattern into a standard co-ordinate system.

This allows the system to “unwarp” any fingerprint that has been distorted by smudging, uneven pressure, or other distortion, for example an injury, and create a clear digital representation of the print. Instead of comparing a print against each entry in a database one-by-one, any new print scanned by the system is unwarped and overlaid onto a virtual image that includes all the fingerprints available in the database, highlighting any match. It does not matter whether there are a thousand or a million fingerprints in the database, the result comes back in seconds.

The technology has impressed more than just the construction industry. It has been assessed by two of the world’s most respected technical fingerprint benchmarking tests. Tests by the UK National Physical Laboratory ranked Warwick Warp’s fingerprint Technology best overall for accuracy. A test of 36 finger print technologies by the US’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ranked the Warwick technology third overall.

Tony Mansfield, Principal Research Scientist and Biometric Expert at the National Physical Laboratory, said, “Improving accuracy on low quality images is important for many biometric applications.”

Li Wang, Chief Technology Officer at Warwick Warp, said, “This is a great result for Warwick Warp as NIST’s test results are used by government and law enforcement agencies when procuring fingerprint technology.” Now the company hopes to demonstrate that its system has superior ability when dealing with partial or distorted prints.