Thales Selected for NIST FastCAP Testing, Reinforcing Momentum in Mobile Contactless Fingerprint Capture

A Key Milestone for Mobile Biometric Identification

Thales has successfully completed Phase One qualification testing of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Fast Capture program, meeting the requirements defined in NIST Special Publication 500-339 for contactless fingerprint acquisition.

Capturing fingerprints has traditionally required dedicated contact sensors. Today, advances in imaging and biometric processing are opening new possibilities: fingerprints can increasingly be captured rapidly and contactlessly using the camera of a mobile device.

NIST’s Fast Capture (FastCAP) program evaluates these emerging technologies against a common framework, with particular attention to the quality and interoperability of contactless fingerprint images compared with traditional contact-based capture.

In August 2026, NIST announced the completion of the program’s first phase and listed Thales among the technology providers that successfully met the qualification requirements of NIST SP 500-339.

Bringing Contactless Fingerprint Capture to the Field 

For Thales, this capability is particularly relevant to Mobile Biometric Identification (MBI), part of the Thales Evidence and Investigation Suite.

Designed for law enforcement, public security and defense operators in the field, MBI enables fingerprints, faces and irises to be acquired from a mobile device and submitted for biometric identification against remote systems of record or local watchlists.

With contactless fingerprint acquisition, an operator can use the camera of a standard mobile device to capture fingerprints without a dedicated fingerprint scanner. This can make biometric identification easier to deploy wherever operations take place, while complementing conventional sensor-based acquisition when required.

The successful completion of NIST FastCAP Phase One provides an important independent reference point for the maturity of this new generation of fingerprint capture technology, and supports Thales’ ambition to bring reliable biometric investigation capabilities closer to frontline operations.

Learn more about Thales Mobile Biometric Identification and the Thales Evidence and Investigation Suite.