Lockheed Martin [LMT] yesterday said it has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the latent fingerprint matching and the introduction of palm print matching to a new biometric database and matching capability the company is developing for the FBI.
The successful CDR paves the way for full development efforts to begin on Increment 3 of the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, which Lockheed Martin is developing and delivering to the agency to succeed the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).
Morpho Trak, a part of France’s Safran Group, has been selected to provide the latent fingerprint and palm print matching algorithms.
IAFIS, which the FBI has been using for more than a decade, is used by the agency to match fingerprints. NGI is incorporating additional biometric modalities for storage and matching. Lockheed Martin also developed IAFIS.
In addition to palm prints, the FBI plans to add facial recognition to NGI and Lockheed Martin also has a trade study underway for iris matching (Defense Daily, March 9).
Last month NGI achieved initial operating capability on Increment 1, which is the fingerprint matching component. Morpho Trak is providing the Automated Fingerprint Identification Technology for Increment 1.
In addition to new and improved biometric modalities, NGI features faster response times for matching queries and additional functions, including a subset of the database to enable law enforcement officials to act more quickly for select individuals.
The Repository for Individuals of Special Concern (RISC), which is Increment 2, is in the final stages of development. The RISC database includes wanted persons, known or suspected terrorists, sex offenders and other persons of special interest.
Lockheed Martin’s teammates on NGI include Accenture [ACN], Britain’s BAE Systems, Global Science & Technology, and Innovative Management & Technology Services.