News
Apr. 2010, NIST ranks Warwick Warp amongst world leaders for fingerprint accuracy
Warwick Warp Ltd, a UK-based developer of novel fingerprint recognition technology is pleased to announce that it has achieved the fourth highest rank in an evaluation of fingerprint matching systems conducted by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Proprietary Fingerprint Template (PFT) evaluation is an ongoing program to measure the performance of fingerprint matching software by utilising vendor proprietary fingerprint templates.
This announcement follows another success for Warwick Warp who, three months ago announced that it achieved the third highest rank in an independently administered technology evaluation of latent fingerprint feature-based matching systems, also conducted by NIST. This represented Warwick Warp's first benchmark submission of a product which is specifically aimed at latent (low quality) prints and it was immediately ranked third highest worldwide for performance accuracy.
The purpose of the Proprietary Fingerprint Technology (PFT) Test conducted by NIST is to evaluate fingerprint recognition algorithms using vendor-supplied software development kits (SDKs). The NIST PFT test is a rigorous measure of the accuracy of a particular fingerprint recognition algorithm. The results that are obtained from such tests give potential customers an idea of how well commercial products perform against each other for one-to-one matching for a variety of applications.
Andrew Waterfall, CEO of Warwick Warp commented "We are extremely pleased with Warwick Warp's performance in the NIST PFT test, especially as the results of such a test enable prospective customers to choose the best biometrics solutions for their needs."
"Test results from NIST are universally accepted as the measurement of standard for biometric SDKs and we are delighted to be ranked fourth globally, particularly as we faced such strong competition from leading players in the biometrics industry. Warwick Warp has always prided itself on the accuracy of its system but the recognition that the results of the NIST PFT test gives us will stand us in good stead as we ramp up our commercial activity", stated Dr Li Wang, CTO of Warwick Warp.
Terry Swainbank, Investment Director for Synergis Technologies, part of the Porton Capital group added "We invested in Warwick Warp because we felt that not does its technology provide market leading accuracy but also can improve the speed of the fingerprint recognition process. We are particularly proud of Warwick Warp's ability to produce a system that rivals the accuracy of the very large global AFIS vendors".
Warwick Warp Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has developed a novel fingerprint recognition technology based on the shortcomings of current systems such as their inability to deal with poor quality fingerprints.
Warwick Warp's algorithms overcome these shortcomings by applying an adaptive mathematical model to model the ridge structures as well as allowing for both linear and non-linear deformation in the measurement. The algorithms are designed to deal effectively with low quality fingerprints to produce images that can be matched with greater accuracy.
For further details, please visit the product page, or contact us for more information.
Feb 2010, Warwick Warp achieves Third Highest Ranking in Latent Fingerprint Benchmark by NIST
Warwick Warp Ltd, a UK-based developer of novel fingerprint recognition technology is pleased to announce that it has achieved the third highest rank in an independently administered technology evaluation of latent fingerprint feature-based matching systems conducted by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).
The purpose of the of test was to evaluate the current state-of-the-art in latent feature-based matching, by comparing the accuracy of searches using images alone with searches using different feature sets. In the preliminary report published from the Evaluation of Latent Fingerprint Technologies: Extended Feature Sets test, Warwick Warp came third with regards to overall performance accuracy.
Andrew Waterfall, CEO of Warwick Warp commented "We are extremely pleased that our system has performed so well in this test, particularly as five leading fingerprint vendors competed in with us in the test. The latent matching capabilities of our algorithm are particularly important for a variety of applications such as law enforcement, border control and workforce management and the results of this test will help companies operating in these areas to choose the best biometrics solutions for their needs".
"Warwick Warp has always prided itself on the ability of its fingerprint recognition system to cope particularly well with prints of low quality", stated Dr Li Wang, CTO of Warwick Warp. "This is the first benchmark submission of our product which is specifically aimed at latent prints and we are delighted that it has immediately been ranked third highest worldwide for performance accuracy".
Terry Swainbank, Investment Director for Synergis Technologies, part of the Porton Capital group added "We invested in Warwick Warp because we felt that the its innovative software incorporates a completely new approach to fingerprint recognition that would exceed current accuracy expectations. The results of the NIST test have proved that Warwick Warp's technology provides market-leading accuracy which is particularly important for the Company as it enters the next exciting phase of its commercial development".
Warwick Warp Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has developed a novel fingerprint recognition technology based on the shortcomings of current systems such as their inability to deal with poor quality fingerprints.
Warwick Warp's algorithms overcome these shortcomings by applying an adaptive mathematical model to model the ridge structures as well as allowing for both linear and non-linear deformation in the measurement. The algorithms are designed to deal effectively with low quality fingerprints to produce images that can be matched with greater accuracy.
For further details, please visit the product page, or contact us for more information.
Oct 2009, Fingerprint Technology Beats World's Toughest Test ... Including 100s of Builders' Thumbs
Technology developed by Warwick Warp that can identify partial, distorted, scratched, smudged, or otherwise warped fingerprints in just a few seconds has just scored top marks in the world's two toughest technical fingerprint tests. The technology is also being rapidly taken up by the UK building trade who are delighted to have fingerprint technology which can cope with the often worn and ravaged builders' thumbprints.
Many other fingerprint techniques have tried to identify a few key features on a finger print and laboriously match them against a database of templates. The University of Warwick researchers consider the entire detailed pattern of each print and transform the topological pattern into a standard co-ordinate system. This allows the researchers to "unwarp" any finger print that has been distorted by smudging, uneven pressure, or other distortion and create a clear digital representation of the fingerprint that can then be mapped on to an "image space" of all other finger prints held on a database. Instead of laboriously comparing a print against each entry in a database any new print scanned by the system is unwarped and over laid onto a virtual "image space" that includes all the fingerprints available to the database. It does not matter whether it's a thousand or a million fingerprints in the database the result comes back in seconds.
This technology has been taken forward by a University of Warwick Spin out company "Warwick Warp" and has now been snapped up by Data Collection Strategies DCS specialist Access control installer for the construction industry who have just deployed it for security and staff management on 6 building sites.
Rodney Holland, Managing Director of Data Collection Strategies said: "This is the first time I have seen a biometrics system that works reliably with the type of poor quality fingerprints we see routinely in the construction industry. We have already installed Warwick Warp's BioLog system at six major sites and our customers love it because it is fast, accurate and eliminates the "buddy punching" problems of older card based access systems."
The technology has impressed more than just the construction industry. In the past week the technology has been examined by two of the world's most respected technical fingerprint benchmarking tests. Tests by the National Physical Laboratory ranked Warwick Warp's fingerprint Technology best overall for accuracy. A test of 36 finger print technologies by the US's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ranked Warwick 3rd overall"
Tony Mansfield, Principal Research Scientist and Biometric Expert at the National Physical Laboratory said, "Improving accuracy on low quality images is important for many biometric applications, and I am delighted to see that the innovative approach of a British company scored so highly in the benchmark test."
Robert Senior (Site Engineer), Phil Bardsley (Section manager) and Rodney Holland (Managing Director of the equipment's Installation Company - DCS) and Dr Li Wang on far right - builders showing abraded fingerprints, and BioLog equipment in use on a Coventry building siteDr Li Wang, Chief Technology Officer at Warwick Warp said:
"This is a great result for Warwick Warp as NIST's test results are used by government and law enforcement agencies when procuring fingerprint technology. Being ranked in the top three for our performance on good fingerprint data really puts us on the map with significant potential partners. Next we hope to demonstrate to these same organisations that if you were to benchmark the same companies with partial or distorted prints our technology would simply eclipse anything else currently available."
This unwarping is so effective that it also allows comparison of the position of individual sweat pores on finger print. This has not previously been possible as the hundreds of pores on an individual finger are so densely packed that the slightest distortion prevented analysts from using them to differentiate finger prints.
For further details, please visit the product page, or contact us for more information.
August 2009, Best in Class for Accuracy
Independent benchmarking by the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) places Warwick Warp's AFIS top for accuracy in comparison to other market leading AFIS products.
Warwick Warp Ltd, a UK-based developer of novel fingerprint recognition technology is pleased to announce that it has achieved the highest rank in terms of matching accuracy in an independent benchmarking survey against leading global suppliers of fingerprint recognition products conducted by the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, UK.
The purpose of the evaluation was to benchmark the verification performance and make comparisons against algorithms of leading fingerprint vendors. The technology evaluation was conducted using two fingerprint databases and compared Warwick Warp's technology with that of leading commercial fingerprint recognition providers such as Cogent, Motorola, NEC and Sagem.
Andrew Waterfall, CEO of Warwick Warp commented "We are delighted that our system has performed so well in this study, particularly as we faced strong competition from leading fingerprint vendors. The recognition it provides us will be extremely valuable as our groundbreaking technology enters the next commercial phase. Our vision is to be the fingerprint recognition vendor of choice for both civil and criminal applications".
"This result is indicative of the significant advances that Warwick Warp has made in the exciting field of fingerprint recognition", stated Dr Li Wang, CTO of Warwick Warp. "Our technology has a number of distinguishing features that offers superior performance in identifying individuals above that of competing systems. We pride ourselves on the ability of our technology to cope with prints of low quality and it is this unique approach in dealing with low quality prints that has led to the overall improvement in accuracy. Our algorithm has the capability to not only improve matching accuracy but also the speed of the fingerprint recognition process".
Warwick Warp Ltd, a spinout company from the University of Warwick, has developed a novel fingerprint recognition technology based on the shortcomings of current systems such as their inability to deal with poor quality fingerprints.
Warwick Warp's algorithms overcome these shortcomings by applying an adaptive mathematical model to model the ridge structures as well as allowing for both linear and non-linear deformation in the measurement. Furthermore, the technology can robustly detect and incorporate what are known as third level features into the measurement such as sweat pores which have the potential to further increase accuracy in the match.
For further details, please visit the product page, or contact us for more information.
January 2009, New Product Release
Warwick Warp is delighted to announce the release of its first commercially available products for the automated fingerprint identification market. Providing a significant improvement in matching speed and accuracy, the Warwick Warp technology is highly scalable, maintaining its performance as the print database increases in size and is therefore suitable for large and small scale applications.
There are three products now available to licence from Warwick Warp:
- The Preprocessor SDK - uses advanced image processing techniques to improve input fingerprints and enhance match rates.
- The Modeller SDK - includes all the functionality of the Preprocessor SDK and in addition utilises the innovative modelling technology (patent pending) developed by Warwick Warp. This technology is exceptionally effective in dealing with low quality, distorted or partial prints. Tests have shown that the Modeller SDK provides a significant improvement in matching speed and accuracy when compared to other third party matchers.
- The Matcher SDK - a fingerprint enrolment and matching product that incorporates the Preprocessor SDK and the Modeller SDK. By using pre-aligned, normalised images and quality mapped feature lists, the Matcher SDK is a fingerprint matching system with unparalleled performance in terms of matching speed and accuracy, particularly using fingerprints with a quality score at NFIQ 3 or lower.
To find out more about these unique solutions for AFIS, please visit the Product page. If you would like to discuss licensing options or arrange a demonstration, please contact us.
November 2008, Warwick Warp Appoints New CEO
Warwick Warp is pleased to announce the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer, Mr Andrew Waterfall. Andrew joins the company at an exciting time in its history, having recently secured substantial new investment for future research and development.
TAndrew has held several sales and managerial roles relating to biological software products. He has an Honours degree in Genetics and spent two years as a Clinical Cytogeneticist for the NHS after leaving University. In 1990, Andrew became a founding partner and CEO of Improvision Ltd., which under his direction, became a global leader in software and systems for biological imaging. Andrew successfully completed the sale of Improvision in 2007 to the PerkinElmer group, a $1.5bn turnover company.
Highly experienced in product and sales development, Andrew has joined the company to ensure that Warwick Warp can capitalise on its unique biometric technology and bring to fruition the commercial potential that its innovations can undoubtedly deliver.
Commenting on Andrew's appointment, Terry Swainbank, Investment Director of Synergis Technologies, part of the Porton Capital Group, the lead investor into Warwick Warp said "I am delighted that Andrew has joined Warwick Warp. As CEO of a highly successful multi-national software imaging company, Andrew has demonstrated his capability as a successful entrepreneur and business manager. His strong commercial background together with extensive knowledge of the European and US software markets will make him a valuable addition to the Warwick Warp team".
July 2008, Warwick Warp Secures £500,000 in New Funding
Warwick Warp is delighted to announce that it has secured funding worth £ 500,000 to continue its research and development into new technology for biometric identification.
The new capital has been secured from Synergis Technologies and Mathematical Capital, who both invest in early-stage technologies, together with a sizeable donation from the Minerva Business Angel Network which is based at the University of Warwick Science Park.
The global market for biometrics is fast growing and expected to reach around $6 million by 2010. The patented Warwick Warp technology is expected to make a significant contribution to the market in the coming years, due to the innovative approach the company has developed.
Russell Munslow, of the University of Warwick Science Park, speaking on behalf of the Minerva Business Angel Network, said "Minerva was set up to help young or established companies such as Warwick Warp gain investment. We bring together potential investors and small and medium sized companies that need capital to unlock their growth. Warwick Warp's potential is clear for all to see and that is why the firm has secured such an exciting level of investment."
August 2007, Warwick Warp at the London Science Museum
Warwick Warp has recently taken part in a special three day exhibition at the Science Museum in London designed to showcase some of the latest biometric technology used to battle identity fraud.
Warwick Warp used the event as an opportunity to field trial its unique fingerprint technology based on an innovative modelling technique. Visitors to the event were invited to enrol their fingerprints into the Warwick Warp database, returning later in the day to see if the system could match their live scan print with their enrolled print.
Over 400 visitors took part in the trial, including around 200 children and the system proved to be 100% accurate - every live scan print was correctly matched to its enrolled print.
Dr Li Wang, Chief Technology Officer with Warwick Warp, was very pleased with these results. He said "One of the biggest tests for fingerprint readers of any kind is children as small fingers make it a lot harder for the software to define prints. In addition to being highly accurate, our technology also provides high speed - importantly, neither accuracy or speed degrades when the size of database increases."
As biometric identification grows ever more important in all kinds of areas, Warwick Warp is working to develop commercially available products to support the performance requirements that the industry demands.
