Date: Feb 12, 2016 Source: SBIR.gov (
click here to go to the source)
Identity theft is a problem that affects individuals, governments, and industries worldwide. Post 9-11, security and individual authentication have become facts of life in the US.
Fingerprinting, one of the best ways to authenticate individuals, has been advanced with the additions of sensors and automation, but as the technology has advanced, so have efforts to defeat it. Fingerprint sensors can be fooled, or spoofed, with synthetic fingerprints created from molds or by using the digit of a deceased person.
Lumidigm, using discoveries linked to medical measurements and optics, found a biometric solution to the problem of spoofing that employs liveness detection to authenticate fingerprints. Today Lumidigm's sensors are being used to thwart identity theft globally in healthcare, finance, government, entertainment, industry, transportation and retail.
The Lumidigm sensor technology is an example of the impact of the U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research / Small Business Technology Transfer Program, which funds R&D by small businesses / cooperative R&D projects with small businesses and non-profit U.S. research institutions. The Air Force SBIR / STTR program focuses on projects and services with the potential to develop into a product for military or commercial sectors.
From 2000-2013, the Air Force invested nearly $4 billion in these R&D projects. Lumidigm received funding during this period to develop the biometric fingerprint model. This is the Lumidigm story.
