About

The identification and verification of passengers travelling in and out of the European Union constitutes a key process to ensure the safety and security of all citizens. However, recent challenges related to migration and asylum have led to increased border controls and processing times. Not only are longer waiting times a source of frustration for travellers and Border Authorities alike, but they also carry significant economic implications: increased costs, reduced competitiveness for businesses, disruption of supply chains, and decreased revenues for
tourism and other sectors.

PopEye (‘robust Privacy-preserving biOmetric technologies for Passengers’ identification and verification at EU external borders maximising the accuracY, reliability and throughput
of the rEcognition’) is a research project funded by the European Commission, started in October 2024 for a total duration of 36 months.

The main goal of PopEye is to strengthen the security at the external EU borders through the fusion of robust, unobtrusive, on-the-move biometric technologies in the aforementioned areas
to maximise the traveller’s experience and improve the capabilities of Border Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies to perform identity checks across a variety of scenarios.

Biometric technologies – such as fingerprint, iris, and face recognition – have been widely adopted to perform identity checks and optimise the efficiency of security screenings, but each of these technologies has their own limitations. Therefore, there is a pressing need for advanced and more accurate biometrics that can provide enhanced security, while ensuring user’s privacy
and respect for EU values and fundamental rights.

At present, the most promising approaches relative to the state-of-the-art are:

• Multi-camera visible light / NIR 2D face recognition
• Contactless friction ridge recognition
• Iris recognition in the near-infrared (NIR) and visible spectrum