Discipline Overview:
The Biometric Technology (BiT) Subcommittee is a hybrid committee, encompassing a cross section of technology and its real-world application. This subcommittee provides biometric resource knowledge to all IAI disciplines, providing awareness to practitioners on available technology as well as future capabilities that will shape the future of forensic and biometric identification. It also tracks current biometric and forensic use-cases and standards of interest to the IAI membership.

What are Biometrics?
ISO/IEC 2382-37:2022(E) defines biometrics as “automated recognition of individuals based on their biological and behavioural characteristics”. This involves the automated encoding and comparisons of human physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, palm prints, facial features, irises, voice, DNA, hand geometry, and even behavioral characteristics, such as gait and keystroke identification. Applications for biometric identification (one-to-many search) and verification (one-to-one comparison) include secure transportation needs such as airports, secure financial transactions, physical access control, user authentication for computer systems and mobile phones, and of course identity management for law enforcement and national security.
Difference Between Biometrics and Forensic Science
Biometrics provide an automated means of identity management, identification and verification, while the goal of forensic science is to provide evidence for criminal investigations. The intersection of these two worlds can be found in the capture of tenprint cards for management of criminal history information, and then using the same database for latent print searches.
Criminal Justice Use-Cases for BiometricsOne of the most common examples of biometrics in the criminal justice system is the use of Automated Biometric Identification Systems (ABIS) for criminal identification across several modalities, commonly fingerprint, face, and iris. Other examples include mobile fingerprint capture devices used by law enforcement for identification of subjects they encounter in the field, and probes for facial recognition from closed-circuit video recordings.
Iris recognition has been around for about 20 years and offers a viable alternative to face and fingerprint recognition. Emerging use-cases for iris recognition are for non-contact applications such as prisoner transport and release.
Qualifications:
Biometrics technology is somewhat of a hybrid of forensic science and computer science. There are no formal qualifications to be involved in the field, but an interest in technology is a plus. Our membership consists of former and current biometric and forensic examiners as well as computer scientists. Examiners generally have formal education in forensic science combined with training to competency in their field of interest (friction ridge, face). On the technology side, our members largely have a formal educational background in information systems, computer science, and systems engineering. Interests include large-scale systems design, big data, data analysis, and data interchange and interoperabilityStandards:
- ANSI/NIST-ITL Standard (https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/ansinist-itl-standard)
- FBI EBTS (EBTS — BioSpecs)
- INTERPOL (NIST INTERPOL standard v6.00.01.pdf)
- ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 37 (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 37 - Biometrics)
- NIEM (Biometrics | NIEMOpen For Government | An OASIS Open Project)
- Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC) Standards Registry (OSAC Registry | NIST)
- OSAC Friction Ridge Subcommittee (Friction Ridge)
- OSAC Facial & Iris Subcommittee (Facial and Iris Identification)
- OSAC Speaker Recognition Subcommittee (Speaker Recognition)
Resources:
For more information about Biometric Technology, below are some helpful resources:
- Best Practices in the collection and the use of biometric and forensic datasets (Best practices in the collection and use of biometric and forensic datasets | NIST)
- Fingerprint Sourcebook, Chapter 6 (Fingerprint Sourcebook - Content Details -)
- Report on ABIS Interoperability (iai-bis-abis-interop-report-draft-v1.0.pdf - Google Drive)
- Biometric Compression Information (Biometric Compression Information | NIST)
- Iris Cameras: Standards Relevant for Camera Selection – 2018 (Iris Cameras: Standards Relevant for Camera Selection - 2018 | NIST)
- Markup Instructions for Extended Friction Ridge Features (Markup Instructions for Extended Friction Ridge Features | NIST)
- Mobile ID Device Best Practices Recommendation Version 2.0 (Mobile ID Device Best Practice Recommendation Version 1.0)
- Forensic Iris: A Review, 2022 (Forensic Iris: A Review, 2022 | NIST)
Informational Websites:
- FBI BioSpecs (Welcome to FBI Biometric Specifications (FBIBioSpecs) — BioSpecs)
- Next Generation Identification (NGI) (Next Generation Identification (NGI) — LE)
- Biometric Update (Biometric Update: Biometrics News, Companies and Explainers)
- Center for Identification Technology (CITeR) (Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR))
- International Face and Fingerprint Performance Conference (IFCP) (International Face and Fingerprint Performance Conference (IFPC) 2025 | NIST)
- Iris Experts Group (IEG) (Iris Experts Group - II Homepage | NIST)
- Iris Exchange (IREX) Overview (Iris Exchange (IREX) Overview | NIST)
- Latent Print AFIS Interoperability Working Group (Latent Print AFIS Interoperability Working Group | NIST)
- Facial Identification Scientific Working Group (FISWG)
Technology Evaluations:
- Fingerprint Recognition (Fingerprint Recognition | NIST)
- NIST Evaluation of Latent Fingerprint Technologies (ELFT) (NIST Evaluation of Latent Fingerprint Technologies (ELFT) | NIST)
- Face Technology Evaluations – FRTE/FATE (Face Technology Evaluations - FRTE/FATE | NIST)
- Iris Exchange (IREX) 10: Ongoing Evaluation of Iris Recognition (Iris Exchange (IREX) 10: Ongoing Evaluation of Iris Recognition | NIST)
- Slap Fingerprint Segmentation Evaluation (Slapseg) Overview (Slap Fingerprint Segmentation Evaluation (Slapseg) Overview | NIST)
Other Organizations Relevant to this Discipline:
- European Association for Biometrics (EAB - European Association for Biometrics)
- Biometrics Institute (Global biometrics community - founded 2001 - Biometrics Institute)
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE - Learn About IEEE Membership | IEEE)
- FIDO Alliance (FIDO Alliance: Reducing Reliance on Passwords)
- BIO-iTC (Biometrics Security : CC Portal)
Ideas for more Research Projects:
- OSAC Research and Development Needs (OSAC Research and Development Needs | NIST)
Journals that Publish Articles in this Discipline:
- Forensic Science International: Synergy (FSI Synergy)
- IEEE Transactions on Biometrics, Behavior, and Identity Science (IEEE T-BIOM | IEEE Biometrics Council)
- IEEE International Joint Conference on Biometrics (IEEE International Joint Conference on Biometrics (IJCB))
Information for Teachers
ISO/IEC 2382-37:2022 Information Technology – Vocabulary Part 37: Biometrics (ISO/IEC 2382-37:2022 - Information technology — Vocabulary — Part 37: Biometrics)