DESCRIPTION: The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is seeking ideas for innovative research and technology demonstrations for Biometrics Exploitation Science and Technology (BEST) to significantly advance the state of the science and enable revolutionary advances in algorithms, devices, and/or systems for non-contact biometrics.

A Proposer's Day will be held on 15 January 2009, 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, at the MITRE 1 Auditorium (7525 Colshire Drive, McLean, VA) for the IARPA BEST Program. The Proposer's Day does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or proposal abstracts. Attendance is voluntary and is not required to propose to subsequent Broad Agency Announcements (if any) on this topic. IARPA anticipates releasing a BAA sometime after the Proposer's Day. IARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this Proposer's Day. Pre-registration for Proposer's Day is required via the website at http://conference.brtrc.com/best09/. Attendees are limited to a maximum of two representatives per company, organization or institution.

The BEST program consists of two main thrusts: (1) Exploitation and Analysis and (2) Robust Acquisition.

The Exploitation and Analysis research thrust is composed of three tracks which bound the biometric signatures of interest: 1) face recognition, 2) ocular recognition (i.e. iris recognition with proximal skin texture), and 3) speaker recognition. The thrust seeks to investigate techniques to derive and exploit biometric signatures from data collected under relaxed acquisition constraints while maintaining recognition performance similar to data acquired under controlled conditions. Given that data may originate from a variety of sources, techniques must operate without prior knowledge regarding characteristics of the sensor used during the acquisition.

The Robust Acquisition research thrust seeks to relax the constraints to enable the collection of high fidelity (1) 3D face (shape and texture) and (2) coupled face and ocular biometric features at standoff distance under uncontrolled acquisition conditions to enable the broader application of the technology. Representative acquisition constraints to be relaxed include, but are not limited to, subject motion, relative position to the sensor, and environmental influences. The minimum objective is to exceed by a factor of three what is commercially available today, with recognition performance similar to that achieved with the cooperative or conditioned individual under controlled acquisition.

Technologies that are not of interest to BEST are contact-type biometric technologies (i.e. fingerprint, palm, etc.) and ideas for product development or research that would primarily result in incremental, evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.

The goals of this Proposer's Day are to 1) familiarize participants with IARPA's interest in biometrics technologies; 2) promote an understanding of the BAA proposal submission requirements and process; and 3) foster discussion of synergistic capabilities among potential program participants.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION: If interested in attending proposer's day, please visit the registration website (http://conference.brtrc.com/best09/) and complete the form necessary to request an invitation. Non-US citizens are required to fill out a visit request form for Foreign Nationals. The registration deadline is 07 January 2009. If approved, you will be sent an invitation to attend.

INVITED INFORMATION: Attendees may hand out background materials regarding potential technology that may be applicable at the Proposer's Day, however, there will not be an opportunity for formal presentations. All handout materials must be unclassified and approved in advance by the organization that funded the research. No proprietary information should be included.

POINTS OF CONTACT:
TECHNICAL: Dr. Michael King, IARPA BEST Program Manager,
[email protected]

EVENT COORDINATION: Ms. Virginia Hoover (Contractor), IARPA BEST09 Proposer's Day Liaison, [email protected].