Analysis
Biometric Access Chooses ADI's Blackfin
Analog Devices has announced that Biometric Access Company has turned to ADI’s Blackfin processor for the company’s new line of modular transaction processing equipment. The SecureTouch Advanced System (STAm) is modular and expands from a basic transaction terminal to include finger imaging, 1D and 2D barcode scanners, facial cameras, printers and other peripherals to provide a custom solution for checkout, payroll, government and personal check cashing and other transactions requiring identity confirmation. The STAm offers unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness in data gathering and data aggregation. The STAm modularity allows BAC’s customers to buy only what is needed for today with total flexibility and scalability as needs change.
The “The STA product is designed to provide a complete custom transaction security solution with a wide choice of networked peripherals. The Blackfin processors provided the best platform for the product due to its combination of performance, peripherals and power. We are able to cut fingerprint extraction times in half, integrate Ethernet and USB seamlessly and take advantage of power-saving ‘sleep’ modes when the terminal is inactive,” said Ron Smith, Biometric Access Company President and CEO.
The SecureTouch Advanced from Biometric Access Company is a great example of a networked embedded design, said Colin Duggan, Director of the Industrial and Instrumentation Product Line in the General Purpose DSP division, Analog Devices, Inc. The combination of imaging and networking is a growing requirement of many industrial and commercial products today. The Blackfin processor was designed to perform both signal processing, such as image processing, and control tasks leading to single processor embedded systems that offer both lower costs and reduced design complexity.
Analog Devices’ Blackfin embodies a new breed of 16/32-bit embedded processor with the industry’s highest performance and power efficiency for applications where a convergence of capabilities -- multi-format audio, video, voice and image processing; multi-mode baseband and packet processing; and real-time security and control processing are critical. It is this powerful combination of software flexibility and scalability that has gained Blackfin widespread adoption in convergent applications such as digital home entertainment, networked and streaming media, automotive telematics and infotainment, and digital radio and mobile TV.
Because developers today seek to reduce time to market by choosing a robust ecosystem that brings them nearer to the capabilities of their end-products, Analog Devices provides an industry-leading tools, starter kits and support including the familiar ADI CROSSCORE software and hardware tools that support other Blackfin Processors. These include the award-winning VisualDSP++ integrated development and debug environment (IDDE), emulators, and EZ-KIT Lite evaluation hardware.