USDOE Human Subjects Research Database, fiscal year 1995

Sandia National Laboratories

Project Identifier: SNL-95-02

Project Title:

Evaluation of the Performance of the IriScan Biometric Identity Device

Principle Investigator: Mr. Frank Bouchier

Project started in: 1995

Fiscal Year 1995 Funding for Research on Human Subjects:

Project Funding Information:
Project received funding in Fiscal Year 1995.
Project used human subjects in Fiscal Year 1995.

Funding Sources:

DOE: Office of Safeguards and Security

Amount: $40,000 (Est.)

Information on Use of Human Subjects:

Project does not involve use of multiple protocols/subprojects.

IRB Review:
Type of Review: Expedited
Most Recent Approval: February 22, 1995

Number of Human Subjects in the Last Reporting Period for this Project: 122
(Reporting periods vary.)

Type of Human Subjects Involvement:

Instrument/Device/Product Testing or Man-Machine Studies:

Use of human subjects to develop/test instruments, materials, devices, or objects.

(a. Objectives, b. Methodology, c. Ionizing Radiation, Radioactive Substances, or Chemical Substances to which human subjects are exposed, d. Involvement of Human Subjects [d.1. procedures used, d.2. risks if any])

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has tasked Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to evaluate commercial state-of-the-art entry control technology devices, and part of this task is to evaluate new and developing biometric identification devices to determine their applicability for use in DOE sites. Biometric identification devices are capable of identifying a person based on some measurable, unique characteristic of the individual. Prototype device to be evaluated uses the irises of individual eyes. Verification of identity is accomplished by matching the measured characteristic with a reference measurement obtained from a previous enrollment.

Volunteers will be trained in the use of the device and will use it as often as possible until a suitable database of transactions is established. The number of false rejects will be compared to the number of transactions. Then all volunteers' templates will be deleted from the device, and each volunteer will try the device several times. During this time, the volunteer's biometric data will be compared against a database of 400 other user templates; researchers will be looking for false accepts and will calculate error rate.

None of the published results will contain individual performance or identification of any kind. There are no known risks associated with the use of the biometric identification device to be studied, and there are no known risks in any of the study procedures.