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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BiowatchID (A secure wearable for payments, ticketing, access control and ID management)

Teaser

Summary

Keys, credit cards & transport tickets are becoming fully digitalâ€”they are increasingly getting replaced by smartphone apps. This shift is fuelled by the ubiquity & convenience of smartphones as well as increasing support for short distance communication protocols (such as NFC or BLE) by different hardware. This increasing digitalization of everyday life requires secure authentication, which passwords, cards & keys frequently cannot meet as they are prone to losses & attacks. There is a market opportunity for a novel biometric solution that overcomes the deficiencies of the existing solutions and makes end-user transactions smooth & secure. While device OEMs like Apple or Samsung are using fingerprints & face recognition as core biometrics, we have designed a completely novel approach to ultra-secure biometrics authentication and built a device around it.
BiowatchID is a smart band worn on the wrist, which is a secure vault that only the owner can use due to continuous biometric authentication. BiowatchID uses a secure patented wrist vein identification technology with demonstrated 99,999% reliability. It is a tamper-proof, military grade security device which supports multiple protocols & communication channels. Once BiowatchID is closed on the wrist, it scans & recognizes the unique vein pattern, and then continuously monitors the presence of the wrist. BiowatchID owner uses the companion app to setup the wearable & enrol his/her wrist vein pattern, to manage the data stored in the wearable, to download firmware updates & enable new services from 3rd parties. Once BiowatchID is set up & paired with 3rd party services, it works independently from the mobile phone, replacing payment cards, keys, PIN codes, passwords, etc.
BiowatchID is designed to replace ID cards & passports; credit cards, loyalty cards, mobility cards; car keys, passwords, access badges; (and in the long term) Touch ID, Face ID & other similar biometric authentication solutions.
In this Phase 1 project (2018-2019), we have carried out additional market validation of BiowatchID in B2B scenarios to support our proof-of-concepts & update our business plans, as well as identify additional partnerships for sales & distribution.
In 2019-2020 we will industrialize the technology, aiming to deliver the market ready product variants that can scale 10,000+ units for B2B sales.
In 2020 we will finalize the R&D on additional product variants & start addressing the market via a range identified partners, scaling up to 100,000-unit sales.

Work performed

We have reached several critical milestones in product development: from miniaturization & hardware architecture to biometric algorithm performance & mechanical design. Importantly, we have moved from the in-contact imaging approach (described in the original patent) to more reliable & easier to implement at-a-distance imaging.
Novel optics: we have designed a novel optical system to meet our requirements on miniaturization & performance, to minimize the impact of skin reflection & achieve uniform illumination.
Novel biometric algorithm: we have reached an acceptable False Rejection Rate (<5%) when operating at a False Acceptance Rate = 0.001%, thus proving that the wrist vein pattern of an individual carries enough entropy to be discriminated amongst at least hundred thousand. These performances have been obtained by running a proprietary matching algorithm on millions of pairs of images from a pool of more than 10,000 images coming from more than 800 wrists. These images of wrist vein patterns are unique to Biowatch and constitute a significant advantage against competition. It directly results from an â€œat a distanceâ€ way of doing, a partnership with CSEM for early prototyping and a partnership with Idiap for excellence in data collection. We are now focusing our efforts to decrease the FRR to 1% via a better enrolment strategy. We believe a FRR <0,01% @ FAR=0,001% is achievable in a near future.
B2B market analysis: We have confirmed corporate access control as the 1st market segment to commercialize in. The advantages of this segment are: 1) immediate tangible value to the company, 2) hassle-free, scalable deployment, 3) immediate entry into the B2B2C segment through the acquired user base.
B2B2C market analysis: We have explored 4 vertical uses cases (banking, automotive, mobility and government).
Based on the feedback of the market, a product redesign is necessary: the product we are now considering and pitching to investors and customers/partners is a watch as it provides the most available volume for our technology while benefiting from a higher price tolerance from the market.

Final results

Unlike smartphones, a hands-free wearable BiowatchID permanently links the user to his/her ID & provides convenient continuous biometric authentication. Unlike other means of biometric authentication (such as fingerprints or iris scans), BiowatchID does not require investment into replacing hardware in offices or shops. BiowatchID is a wrist-worn wearable for hassle-free interaction with NFC readers that is secured by the unique wrist vein pattern of each human. BiowatchID is the replacement for traditional badges, cards, keys, passwords & PIN codes with security superior to fingerprints.
In addition to a miniaturised near-infrared camera for high-contrast image acquisition of the userâ€™s vein pattern, BiowatchID contains an embedded controller that hosts our proprietary biometric algorithm for vein pattern recognition, a secure element for data encryption, NFC & BLE chips for communication to readers & other IoT devices, sensors for continuous authentication, an accelerometer for activity tracking, a vibrating element for notifications & 2 RGB LEDs for user interaction. The band is powered by a Li-Ion rechargeable battery (with at least 2 weeks autonomy) & is waterproof.
The added value (and the disruptive potential) of BiowatchID is in a simple, convenient, highly secure wrist-worn wearable solution that is ready for payments, ticketing, access control & ID management that allows continuous authentication of the user. BiowatchID ultimately becomes the only ID necessary, a one-stop-shop for all daily authentication needs to devices, premises & services. Importantly, BiowatchID is designed for user privacy from day oneâ€”all biometric data is stored in the wearable & not in the cloud.
BiowatchID provides a superior â€œalways-onâ€ solution to mobile phones & existing means of biometric authentication, such as fingerprints or iris scans. In terms of user experience, BiowatchID is far simpler to use than any existing biometrics.
European/global challenges, societal benefits
The key global challenge that we are addressing with BiowatchID is the increasing threat of identity theft. In the UK alone there were ~90,000 successful identity thefts in 6 months of 2017. Identity theft numbers in EU are reaching epidemic levels. BiowatchID is the secure way to make identity theft unlikely.