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Biometrics via Traveler Identity Service

Traveler Identity Service (TIS) is the single integration point for biometric enrollment, identification, and verification within the cluster. This page describes the principle, the supporting components, and the matching contracts available to integrators.

Why this exists. Without this abstraction, every integrator would have to integrate directly with the matching engine — coupling them to the specific biometric backend, exposing template handling, and making it impossible to swap or upgrade the matcher without breaking integrations. TIS acts as a stable contract: it accepts a probe, returns a Traveler-level result, and shields the matcher from the outside world.

Principle​

  • TIS as the single integration point for all consumers — translates business actions into internal operations
  • TIS orchestrates, BRS matches. TIS does not perform biometric matching itself; it acts as an abstraction layer in front of the Biometrics Record Service (BRS) — the sole, embedded matching and enrollment engine (ABIS)
  • No direct access to the Biometrics Record Service (BRS) by integrators — the matching engine is a black box behind Traveler Identity Service
  • References, not raw data. TIS handles biometric data via references (template IDs / URIs), not raw template processing
  • Raw source preservation under Traveler. Original raw sources of biometric templates are stored in TIS under the Traveler entity as metadata — the templates themselves live in BRS, but TIS keeps the capture-source record for traceability and audit
  • Single embedded ABIS. BRS is the only matching and enrollment engine — there is no dependency on any external ABIS. Enrollment, identification, and verification all run against BRS beneath the TIS facade

Border Control remains the authoritative system for operations and biometrics usage.

System Roles​

  • Traveler Identity Service (Middleware) — entry point for all integrators and channels; translates business actions to internal operations; resolves biometrics results to traveler context and encounters
  • Biometrics Record Service (BRS) — stores biometrics templates; operates as the matching engine without cluster context; performs enrollment with extraction and persistency, identification, and verification

Matching contract — ephemeral probe pattern​

Traveler Identity Service always uses an ephemeral biometric record as the probe for identification and verification.

  • The probe record is created per request, stored as inactive (no relationship to galleries or candidates), with auto-expire policy
  • TIS decides which gallery to search and which strategy to use
  • TIS translates biometric results into traveler results

Identification (1:N)​

  1. TIS receives biometric probe data from a channel (corridor, eGate, kiosk, post)
  2. TIS stores encounter context and validates input
  3. TIS creates an ephemeral biometric record in BRS
  4. BRS extracts features/templates from the probe; creates an ephemeral record (inactive, not part of any gallery)
  5. TIS calls BRS for identification using the ephemeral record ID as probe and the configured galleries
  6. BRS returns candidate biometric record IDs and matching scores/ranking
  7. TIS resolves biometric record IDs to Traveler entities and applies business rules (thresholds, ranking, filtering)
  8. TIS returns the identification result to the channel: matched Traveler(s) and confidence/decision

Verification (1:1)​

  1. TIS receives biometric probe data and a claimed traveler identity
  2. TIS stores encounter context and validates input
  3. TIS creates an ephemeral biometric record in BRS
  4. BRS extracts features/templates and creates an ephemeral record
  5. TIS retrieves biometric record reference(s) linked to the claimed Traveler
  6. TIS calls BRS for verification using the ephemeral record as probe and the Traveler's records as reference set
  7. BRS returns match result and score/confidence
  8. TIS interprets the result using business thresholds and produces the verification outcome
  9. TIS returns Verified / Not Verified plus confidence to the channel

Enrollment flow​

Enrollment runs directly against BRS — there is no external enrollment engine.

  1. Traveler Identity Service stores the traveler's business data and raw capture images as its own definitive model
  2. TIS extracts templates from the submitted captures via BRS
  3. TIS creates a multi-modal biometric record in BRS in the target gallery and receives back the biometric record ID / template reference
  4. TIS links the BRS record to the Traveler and writes the action to the audit log
  5. For matching, TIS uses BRS directly

Re-enrollment upserts the traveler's existing record (full modality replace) rather than creating a duplicate — one record per traveler per gallery.

Record lifecycle​

Soft delete​

Excludes a biometric record from operational matching while preserving it for audit and reactivation.

  • TIS validates record existence and authorization rules
  • BRS changes record state to inactive and excludes it from identification galleries
  • TIS keeps the reference in Traveler context and preserves historical linkage in encounters

Hard delete​

Permanently removes a biometric record from BRS and unlinks it from TIS. Used internally only, not exposed to integrators in standard offerings.

Record retrieval​

TIS can access biometric record details for internal or support use cases.

See also​