Interoperable Performance

In applications where components conform to standardized interfaces and functional specifications, it is possible to replace one component with another from a different manufacturer. While conformance to the specifications is a necessary condition for interoperability, it is often not sufficient because the internal algorithmic action of the component is usually not regulated by the standard. Thus a biometric detection algorithm might underperform some others despite being conformant to the requirements. This article suggests that the appropriate means for quantifying biometric interoperability is to identify relevant performance metrics, to measure them, and to certify against them. For biometric sensors and also detection, segmentation, and matching algorithms, these metrics will be usually be failure to acquire and enroll rates, and Type I and II recognition error rates.