Aware, Inc. – Biometrics Software

Software for FBI-Compliant Compression and Transcoding of 500 ppi and 1000 ppi Fingerprint and Palm Images

Section of a digital fingerprint
image that has been compressed 15:1 with the JPEG algorithm. Note the block artifact that is inherent in
the algorithm. The image has
been zoomed by 4.

Section of the same fingerprint image that has been compressed 15:1 with the WSQ algorithm. Note the absence of the block artifact. The image has been zoomed by 4.

WSQ1000 is the industry’s highest performing implementation of the FBI’s Wavelet Scalar Quantization (WSQ) digital fingerprint compression algorithm. WSQ is a wavelet transform-based compression standard, developed by the FBI for compression of digital fingerprint images. Widely used around the world, WSQ1000 is specifically designed for the compression and management of high-resolution, grayscale fingerprint images. Aware guarantees FBI compliance with every WSQ license.

Fast, reliable compression and decompression of critical fingerprint image data with technology entirely owned, developed, maintained, and supported by Aware
Complete, fully-featured API facilitates efficiency and ease of use and includes Aware’s FBI-compliant WSQ and JPEG2000 compression technologies
Libraries to build a standard-compliant 1000 ppi workstation and enables efficient transcoding from 1000 ppi JPEG2000 images to 500 ppi WSQ images, which supports all necessary JP2 compression options and comment insertion into the JP2 or WSQ codestreams
Accurate rate controller; e.g. compress to within 1% of specified ratio, file size, or bit rate (bits/pixel)

Support for 1000 ppi images

The FBI has developed a standard for the compression and formatting of 1000 ppi fingerprint and palm images, called “Profile for 1000 ppi Fingerprint Compression”. This profile requires the use of JPEG2000 for compression and formatting of 1000 ppi images. WSQ will continue to be used for 500 ppi images. Like WSQ, JPEG2000 uses a wavelet-based compression algorithm that performs particularly well for large images. It is an established ISO standard, used extensively for medical imaging and digital archiving applications.

The FBI’s IAFIS and all legacy AFIS systems will continue to require 500 ppi WSQ compressed data. To address this requirement, WSQ1000 enables efficient transcoding from 1000 ppi JPEG2000 images to 500 ppi WSQ images.
The JPEG2000 standards are complex, with many variable settings intended to help optimize its use for different applications. The FBI 1000 ppi Profile includes several mandatory encoding parameters to ensure the optimization of JPEG2000 for 1000 ppi fingerprint images.

To receive more information about Aware's Biometrics Software products, please contact us.

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