Comparative Biometric Testing

IBG's Comparative Biometric Testing (CBT) is the industry's longest-running performance testing program. 

CBT measures the accuracy and usability of commercial fingerprint, face recognition, iris recognition, voice recognition, signature recognition, hand geometry, and emerging biometrics systems. 

CBT conforms to published US and International standards for biometric performance testing.

>   ANSI INCITS 409.3-2005
     Biometric Performance Testing and Reporting - Part 3: Scenario Testing and Reporting
>   ISO/IEC 19795-2:2007
     Biometric performance testing and reporting - Part 2: Testing methodologies for technology and scenario evaluation

The CBT Test Director, Michael Thieme, is the editor of  these standards.   

Listen to IBG's recent webconference detailing CBT Round 7 benefits, methodology and participation details.

CBT Round 7

CBT Round 7 kicked off in Q2 2009. Participants included fingerprint, iris, keystroke, and voice biometric vendors. Results will be published in Fall 2009.

>   Comparative Biometric Testing Round 7: Participant Overview (pdf)

Opportunities to participate in CBT Round 8 are now available. To participate or obtain more details, email Victor Lee or call (212) 809-9491.

CBT Benefits

Broad Dissemination of Results to Decision-Makers across Government and Industry. The CBT Public Report, including performance data for all evaluated systems, is relied upon by IBG’s worldwide audience of thousands of decision-makers and industry professionals in hundreds of government and commercial organizations.

The following commercial and government organizations are among the thousands of recipients of IBG’s performance reports.

>   IBG Report Recipient List (pdf)

Access to Detailed System Performance Data. Reliable performance data relative to competing modalities and systems is difficult to collect. CBT generates benchmark performance data essential to engineering teams, product developers, and sales and marketing staff. In addition to the core test metrics, CBT generates demographic- and test subject-specific performance data, helping vendors identify areas for improvement in their capture and matching technologies.

Independent, Third-Party Biometric Performance Certification. Biometric system accuracy and usability are essential considerations for government and commercial deployers, technology partners, and investors. Third-party testing by credible and experienced testing organizations is a precondition of procurement for many deployers. IBG has been recognized as the industry's leading source of objective performance data since the late 1990's.

The Comparative Biometric Testing Round 6 Public Report is freely available for download. Previous CBT Round reports may be available. Please email IBG at cbt@biometricgroup.com or call (212) 809-9491 for further details.

Comparative Biometric Testing addresses the following questions critical to successful deployments:

>   How do leading technologies compare in terms of False Match Rates, False Non-Match Rates, and Failure to Enroll?
>   How well do technologies perform under real-world conditions with typical users?  
>   Which technologies are able to enroll the largest percentage of users?
>   What percentage of enrolled users are falsely matched and non-matched? 
>   Do error rates increase over time?
>   How well do biometric devices address ergonomic and ease-of-use issues? 
>   Which technologies and devices are ready to deploy in operational environments?

Understanding biometric technologies' accuracy and performance under real-world conditions is a precondition of effectively deploying biometrics. Error rates encountered by actual users - including false match rates, false non-match rates, and failure to enroll rates - often differ from error rates generated in laboratory tests using databases of biometric samples.

CBT sponsors have included Honeywell, Microsoft, American Airlines, Lockheed Martin, EDS, Fidelity Investments, Star Systems, and the Financial Services Technology Consortium.

CBT Downloads

>   Test Plan (pdf)
>   Requirements (pdf)
>   Biometric Performance Certification FAQ (pdf) 
>   A partial list of IBG performance report recipients (pdf)

Comparative Biometric Testing and Performance Certification

Systems tested in CBT that meet accuracy and usability criteria obtain Biometric Performance Certification. For more information on Biometric Performance Certification, please contact Michael Thieme at International Biometric Group.

CBT History 

IBG typically tests between ten and twelve leading biometric systems in each Comparative Biometric Test round. To date, more than 50 biometric systems have been tested. Technologies tested to date include fingerprint, face recognition, iris recognition, voice recognition, signature recognition, hand geometry, and keystroke biometrics. Below is a partial list of systems tested in CBT.