UIDAI and IIIT-Hyderabad Launch Global Biometric Algorithm Challenge
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), in association with IIIT-Hyderabad, has initiated a mass-scale competition to prove fingerprint-based authentication technologies under biometric algorithms, stated the Ministry of Electronics and IT.
The competition calls on international researchers and developers to improve their biometric models through UIDAI's distinctive, field-harvested dataset for more accurate results under real-world scenarios.
The initial phase of Biometric SDK Benchmarking challenge is fingerprint authentication. It requires testing 1:1 matching algorithms for children between the ages of 5-10 years, with follow-ups after 5-10 years.
The contest will provide the opportunity to the participants to see how their algorithms perform tested against a large anonymized biometric database in a secured UIDAI sandbox.
"UIDAI sees to it that participant submissions are tested securely, with anonymized datasets and non-disclosure of data to participants", the Ministry stated.
"The challenge carries rewards worth Rs 7.7 lakhs ($9,000) and also the chance to work with UIDAI in taking forward biometric technologies", it added.
The challenge, started on March 25, will continue until May 25. Participants interested to join can enroll themselves on the UIDAI portal.
The Ministry added that following the fingerprint challenge, UIDAI will also initiate SDK benchmarking competitions for iris and face recognition.
"SDK benchmarking competition, initiated by UIDAI and IIIT-H, evaluates the performance of biometric authentication and verification SDKs. It is a platform for industry specialists and researchers to test the computational capabilities and efficiency of their SDKs", UIDAI stated.
With a vast dataset of real-world biometric data, covering varied geographies and demographics across India, the competition guarantees algorithm testing on diverse challenges and generalisability to real-world applications. Developers can see areas for improvement, and gain from learning their performances with peers by taking part in the competition", it added.
Aadhaar is the central pillar of India's digital inclusion and good governance. The Aadhaar number holders perform almost 90 million authentication transactions every single day in order to take advantage of multiple services and benefits.
