EU Borders Agency publishes results of technology foresight on biometrics for the future of travel

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, has published the results of Technology Foresight on Biometrics for the Future of Travel, which aims to transform controls at the European Union’s external borders.

According to Frontex, millions of travelers cross the EU’s external borders every year, and this number is likely to increase further. Therefore, it was noted that border controls need to undergo significant transformations to effectively protect the EU’s external borders as well as to improve the border crossing experience for travellers.

Biometrics is one of the areas that should greatly contribute to the achievement of these objectives, and for this reason Frontex has decided to publish the Foresight, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

“The publication is the result of an intensive 9-month project carried out in 2021, which aimed to study the future of biometrics for its implementation in border control systems which could benefit the work of the European community of Border and Coast Guard (EBCG) in both countries in the short and long term”, Frontex explained.

Frontex further clarified that the research study had five phases. All of these phases produced their own set of information to support Frontex in decision-making processes.

According to Frontex, the agency has identified and studied non-contact friction ridge recognition, 3D face recognition, infrared face recognition, iris recognition in the NIR spectrum and iris recognition in the visible spectrum. with the greatest potential to influence the future development of Integrated Border Management.

In addition, the same pointed out that the research was supported by the European Commission’s DG HOME, FRA, JRC, Europol, eu-LISA, Interpol and the border management authorities of the Member States, among others.

Previously, Frontex has finalized a project for faster and safer border controls with D4FLY. The project explored, verified and developed new technologies to test the capabilities of border authorities facing threats in verifying documents at automated border crossing points.

Earlier in October, Frontex noted that this particular project had been tested in two different scenarios. In the first scenario, the project was tested in an automated border post, while in the other it was tested when border guards checked people in crowded spaces.

During this project, passports were scanned by the kiosk and cameras captured biometric features from different angles.

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