SAFR from RealNetworks Awarded $1.9M in Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Contracts from the United States A...
August 05 2020 - 4:01PM
SAFR® from RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK), the leader in facial
recognition and person-centric computer vision on live video, today
announced it has been awarded two Phase II Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts of approximately $950k each or
$1.9M in total from AFWERX.
These contracts provide funding to adapt the SAFR platform for
use by the Air Force for perimeter security and secure access. Once
developed for the USAF, the SBIR/STTR program allows for any other
federal agency to award a sole-source contract for technology
developed under the program.
Real-Time Facial Recognition for Perimeter Security and
Force Protection
In partnership with Security Forces at a US Air Force base, SAFR
will be enhanced to integrate real-time facial recognition across a
range of fixed and mobile device embedded cameras to secure the
perimeter and enhance situational awareness for those charged with
securing some of our nation’s most sensitive assets.
“Enabling Air Force Security Forces to detect persons of
interest before they arrive at entry control points enhances force
protection capabilities and the personal safety of our Defenders,”
said 1st Lt Moore, USAF.
Contactless and Secure Access with Existing
Cameras
In partnership with another USAF wing, SAFR will be further
hardened against spoofing attacks to provide contactless secure
access for authorized personnel using existing IP security cameras.
This development will enable the elimination of touch-based
keypads, a potential transmission surface of COVID-19 and
contribute to force health and readiness.
“Strong biometric identity authentication using face recognition
has the potential to reduce the likelihood of contracting and
spreading infectious elements including COVID-19 and seasonal flu
into facilities, thus providing additional protection to our
operational readiness,” said Mr. Donald Hudson, GG-15,
Technical Director, USAF.
Adapting a Proven Commercial Solution for Military
Use
“SAFR is used by commercial customers around the world for tens
of millions of recognitions per month using on-premise and cloud
deployments for secure access, perimeter security and a variety of
other use-cases,” said Dan Grimm, General Manager of SAFR from
RealNetworks. “As a US company, we are honored to partner with
AFWERX and these two Air Force wings to adapt our technology for
mission-critical use by the US Air Force and other DoD
customers.”
The SAFR platform is distinguished by its focus on real-world
accuracy and performance:
- Optimized for live video. Face detection and recognition of a
subject moving through a video frame in under 100ms with 99.87%
accuracy
- Low bias. The lowest accuracy difference due to skin tone bias
of any non-Chinese verification algorithm, as reported by NIST in
their January 2020 report on the topic. This is a result of a
diverse training data and focused, intentional efforts to eliminate
bias.
- Deployment flexibility. In addition to fixed live video feeds,
SDKs support edge deployments on resource-constrained autonomous
devices like UGVs and UAVs that support ISR missions and require a
small footprint and offline operation.
- Commercial readiness. Tens of millions of recognitions per
month globally with both on-premise and hybrid cloud
deployments.
These contracts are the result of a partnership between AFRL and
AFWERX to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research process
and accelerate innovation by speeding up the experience, broadening
the pool of potential applicants and decreasing bureaucratic
overhead.
About SAFR
SAFR (www.safr.com) is the world’s foremost facial recognition
platform for live video intelligence. It taps the power of AI to
help the world get back to work. Whether it’s used for occupancy
counting, face mask detection, or touchless entry control, SAFR can
be deployed on premises, in the cloud, or with a VMS. SAFR enhances
security, heightens situational awareness, and delivers insights
that improve operational efficiency and protect the health and
safety of people everywhere.
About AFWERX
AFWERX is an innovation arm of the U.S. Air Force established in
2017. Its focus is to provide non-traditional innovators the
opportunity to solve challenges and increase effectiveness within
the Air Force. AFWERX has partnered with the U.S. Air Force SBIR
with a start-up approach. They have accelerated timelines and
processes to quickly scale innovation within the DoD.
For more information:
www.safr.com/
Press Inquiries:
Amanda Perry
public_relations@realnetworks.com
Amanda Perry
SAFR
603-537-9248
public_relations@realnetworks.com
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