CALL: 2022/CFP/RIU/01 - Novel Technologies for Border Management (Open Theme)
GRANT AGREEMENT NUMBER: No. 2023/345
BENEFICIARY: CAMPUS 02 Fachhochschule der Wirtschaft GmbH (Austria)
DURATION: 1 September 2023 – 31 August 2024
FOCUS AREA: border checks, False and Authentic Documents Online (FADO) database, Frontex Interpol Electronic Library Document System (FIELDS) database
The project aims to introduces a novel cost-effective, reliable, and easy-to-operate device for travel document checks that uses multiple light sources (white, oblique, UVA 365 nm, UVB 313 nm, UVC 254 nm, infrared and anti-Stokes laser) to acquire a series of images of the most vulnerable security features (‘sweet spots’) on travel documents.
High-resolution optical imaging will be applied on specific spots in the documents to help detecting most frequent manipulations such as: photo replacements, overprints on the holder’s face picture, changes in the check digits of the MRZ, wrong printing techniques, false optically variable inks (OVIs), damaged diffractive optically variable image devices (DOVIDs) over photos, changes of the age digits, missing anti-Stokes fluorescent particles.
Exact coordinates of the imaged points and acquisition/verification metadata (e.g., the used light sources) will also be stored in the system for further analysis and to feed the databases.
Foreseeable Outcomes:
The project will result in a working prototype validated in a relevant laboratory environment. It will constitute a basis for further development into an industrial-grade product capable of responding to the needs of the European Border and Coast Guard community for optical travel document checks.
The project is expected to pave the way for research on automatic recognition methods for security features and printing techniques used to produce identity documents.
