Page 65 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

50 AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS

NAFIS system) we saw any AFIS procurement that did not specify WSQ com-
pression at an average of 15:1. Even then, these new procurements specified
both JPEG 2000 and WSQ at 15:1, since they have to exchange images with
existing systems.

2.7.5 CONCLUSION

IAFIS set the pace for all subsequent AFIS and livescan procurements. It
brought interoperability to the AFIS market. The many men and women of the
FBI’s IAFIS Program Office and its industrial partners deserve a word of thanks
from the buyers of today. The following by-products of IAFIS are the baseline
for a very mature industry:

• The ANSI-NIST Standard, with all its flexibility
• EFTS and its all important IQS Appendices
• WSQ compression for fingerprint images

IAFIS went operational in stages, starting with the successful Electronic Fin-
gerprint Image Print Server (EFIS) first used by the Boston Police Department
in 1995. IAFIS achieved full operational capability in 1999. For more informa-
tion on the IAFIS program, see Biometrics, Identification in the Information Age, by
Woodward, Orlans, and Higgins and published by Osborne, a McGraw Hill
Company in 2002.

2.7.6 CURRENT CHALLENGES
Now that IAFIS has been operational for approximately 6 years, the responsi-
bilities and cost of ownership are starting to be addressed by the FBI. Assistant
Director Michael D. Kirkpatrick, CJIS Division, has been able to fund and imple-
ment the replacement of the aging optical disk jukebox system used for fin-
gerprint image storage and retrieval. These mechanical devices have recently
been replaced with spinning disks. The now obsolete computers the FBI AFIS
ran on have been replaced with newer machines with an order of magnitude
increase in performance.
Kirkpatrick and the FBI are also addressing the list of major changes that are
required if the FBI is to continue to be the “role model for police agencies in
criminal identification matters” as was set as a goal by the 1989 report. The
changes include adding the capability to do the following:

• Process variable density records.
• Accept, process, store, and search palm records.