BAT Upgrades Tested in the Field

One of the important biometric collection systems used by the Department of Defense in its Global War on Terrorism is the Biometrics Automated Toolset.  The BAT is a multi-modal biometric collection system designed to capture fingerprints, irises, and photographs of persons of interest.  A peripheral device to the BAT is the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment. The HIIDE provides the BAT with untethered biometrics verification and in some cases a collection capability.  Together the BAT and HIIDE capture, transmit, store, share, retrieve, match, and display biometrics data to identify known persons of interest. 

The Multi National Corps – Iraq, came up with the idea to update current biometric watchlist operations to include latent fingerprints and support a detain decision of potential High Value Targets without degrading the current BAT and HIIDE operations.

A new initiative, the BAT and HIIDE Latent Matching Capability, facilitates real time enrollment and matching of persons of interest against a watchlist containing good quality, probative latent fingerprints.  The BAT and HIIDE Latent Matching Capability allows users to ingest Electronic Fingerprint Transmission (EFT) files, perform live enrollments, search the database, or receive immediate feedback regarding matches against a latent fingerprint watchlist.

During operations in the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility, latent fingerprints are collected from Improvised Explosive Device fragments, at IED bomb factories, or at the scene of insurgent attacks on US and coalition forces. Currently, the BAT and HIIDE systems use an existing 10-print matching algorithm to perform latent matching processes.  However, the developers will continue to monitor progress in regard to improvements in “lights out” latent matching technology and insert more mature technology into DoD systems when available.

The Biometrics Task Force evaluated the BAT and HIIDE Latent Matching Capability last November at the Language and Technology Office, located at the Thunder Mountain complex, Fort Huachuca, Az.

BTF test engineers used 10-print EFT files with their associated Unsolved Latent Files during simulated entry control point operations and pristine quality latent fingerprints during various live enrollments.  All latent files used during the event contained a fingerprint core (the area of the fingerprint located within the innermost recurving ridge) and 30 minutia points manually plotted by certified latent print examiners.  These files are representative of the quality of fingerprints and “good” quality latent prints likely to be encountered in the operational environment.  This type of known match data was also used for the HIIDE remote search latent match evaluation.  However, the 10-print match file was not representative of the operational environment because only one test file was collected using the HIIDE device.

According to Samuel Aloi, Chief of BTF Standardization Evaluation and Assessment Laboratory, the event verified BAT’s ability to ingest pristine quality latent prints and match against a live enrollment. It also confirms the HIIDE’s ability to upload the anonymous dossier file created from a pristine latent file from BAT and match against a live HIIDE enrollment.

In March, an operational assessment was conducted by forces deployed in the CENTCOM’s area of responsibility using an untethered BAT.  The capability to match identities to a latent watchlist during untethered BAT/HIIDE operations will give soldiers on the ground the ability to detain individuals at the first biometric encounter.  This event and details of other BTF evaluations can be found on our secure website.