Indra and UPM develop a direct voice recognition system in internet

Indra, the premier IT company in Spain and a leading multinational in Europe and The Technical University of Madrid (UPM) have just concluded the development of a biometric identification system through voice to reinforce users security in access to telematic services. The project was led by the Innovation division of Indra Software Labs located in the Development Centre in Madrid. Indra Software Labs consists of 20 centres integrated in a network, distributed in Europe, Asia and Latin America, with a workforce of more than 4,000 professionals specialised in software development.

SIBMATI (Multimodal Biometric Identification systems applied to IT) has been developed within the Plan Avanza framework of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce and is the first application for user identification directly through internet. It does not require additional devices other than the ones a home user might need, hence its use does not entail expenses. The project started in April, 2007 with a global budget of euros 614.315 of which euros392.848 come from a subvention.

The main innovation of the prototype developed by Indra and UPM consists of the possibility to identify any type of user in any environment (desktop computers, laptops, PDAs, etc) and in any scenario (local resources, internet services, network access). Unlike other biometric identification systems that require telephone calls, the verification process is carried out through internet.

The biometric application was designed to provide information systems and internet users with an accessible and user-friendly tool that without need of additional costs makes them feel their identity is safe and hence contributes to eliminate reluctance to use telematic services. SIBMAT was specially conceived to be implemented in any company or entity that offers online banking or electronic commerce where additional guarantees for clients when carrying out transactions and without extra costs are desired.

The system attempts to become an additional filter to traditional identification mechanisms such as “log in-password” in order to avoid impersonation or phising in habitual operations such as bank transactions, online shopping or email.

Glotic voiceprint of voice production

SIBMATI technologies of voice characterisation and recognition are based on a voiceprint of glotic stimulation which is determined by low-level biometric parameters of the speaker (larynx, nasopharyngeal cavity, lungs) and by the voice production (physical and emotional tension, tone or pathologies). This sample provides a first-class source of information about the speaker besides being unique to the individual speaker and hence hard to fake.

The system consists of a registration application and a authentication application. Te process is similar to those employed in traditional “log in-password” identification but instead of typing speech is required. The registration application requests the user to utter a phrase (name and last name, random numbers, vowels, etc) in order to obtain a voice sample and store it in a database for further comparison with registered users. Afterwards, the user can use the authentication application before gaining access to telematic services. Then, the system will indicate the type of locution the user should utter to verify the identity by comparing it to the registered voiceprint.

Leader in innovation

Indra is the first European company with major R&D investment in the Information Technologies (Computer Services) sector according to the Industrial R&D Scoreboard report released by the European commission in November. The company moved 13 places up since last year and consolidates as the second Spanish company with major investment in this sector with a 7% over its revenue figure, well above the average of Spanish companies (0.8%), European companies (2.7%) and USA’s companies (4.5%).

According to the report (http://iri.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reports.htm) Indra invested €166 M in R&D in 2008, 7.3% more than the previous year. With these figures, Indra ranks 103rd among European companies with more investment in this area.

Indra has agreements with more than 100 universities and research centres with the objective of becoming an international reference in cooperation and in university-company technology transfer.

Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to stock market capitalisation, and also the second Spanish company with the most investment in R&D. In 2009, revenues reached € 2,513 M, of which a third will come from the international market. The company employs more than 29,000 professionals and has clients in more than 100 countries.