BIOMETRIC FINGERPRINT TERMS F
Face Recognition
A biometric modality that uses an image of the visible physical structure of an individual’s face for recognition purposes.
Failure to Acquire (FTA)
Failure of a biometric system to capture and/or extract usable information from a biometric sample.
Failure to Enroll (FTE)
Failure of a biometric system to form a proper enrollment reference for an end user. Common failures include end users who are not properly trained to provide their biometrics, the sensor not capturing information correctly, or captured sensor data of insufficient quality to develop a template.
False Acceptance Rate (FAR)
A statistic used to measure biometric performance when operating in the verification task. The percentage of times a system produces a false accept, which occurs when an individual is incorrectly matched to another individual’s existing biometric.
Example: Frank claims to be John and the system verifies the claim.
False Alarm Rate
A statistic used to measure biometric performance when operating in the open-set identification (sometimes referred to as watchlist) task. This is the percentage of times an alarm is incorrectly sounded on an individual who is not in the biometric system’s database (the system alarms on Frank when Frank isn’t in the database), or an alarm is sounded but the wrong person is identified (the system alarms on John when John is in the database, but the system thinks John is Steve).
False Match Rate
A statistic used to measure biometric performance when. Similar to the False Acceptance Rate (FAR).
False Non-Match Rate
A statistic used to measure biometric performance. Similar to the False Reject Rate (FRR), except the FRR includes the Failure To Acquire error rate and the False Non-Match Rate does not.
False Rejection Rate (FRR)
A statistic used to measure biometric performance when operating in the verification task. The percentage of times the system produces a false reject. A false reject occurs when an individual is not matched to his/her own existing biometric template. Example: John claims to be John, but the system incorrectly denies the claim.
Feature(s)
Distinctive mathematical characteristic(s) derived from a biometric sample; used to generate a reference.
Feature Extraction
See extraction.
FERET - Face Recognition Technology program
A face recognition development and evaluation program sponsored by the U.S. Government from 1993 through 1997. For more information visit http://www.frvt.org/FERET/default.htm.
Fingerprint Recognition
A biometric modality that uses the physical structure of an individual’s fingerprint for recognition purposes. Important features used in most fingerprint recognition systems are minutiae points that include bifurcations and ridge endings.
FpVTE - Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation (2003)
An independently administered technology evaluation of commercial fingerprint matching algorithms. For more
information visit http://fpvte.nist.gov/.
FRGC - Face Recognition Grand Challenge
A face recognition development program sponsored by the U.S. Government from 2003-2005. For more information visit http://www.frvt.org/FRGC/.
Friction Ridge
The ridges present on the skin of the fingers and toes, and on the palms and soles of the feet, which make contact with an incident surface under normal touch. On the fingers, the distinctive patterns formed by the friction ridges that make up the fingerprints.
FRVT - Face Recognition Vendor Test
A series of large-scale independent technology evaluations of face recognition systems. The evaluations have occurred in 2000, 2002, and 2005. For more information visit http://www.frvt.org/FRVT2005/default.aspx.