ISO/IEC 30137-1:2024

Overview

ISO/IEC 30137-1:2024 - Information technology - Use of biometrics in video surveillance systems - Part 1: System design and specification - provides guidance for designing and specifying biometric capabilities integrated with video surveillance systems (VSS/CCTV). The standard covers real-time watchlist matching and post-event analysis, primarily for face recognition but also addressing other modalities such as gait recognition. It defines key terms, performance metrics and system architecture considerations to help organizations deploy biometric-enabled VSS in a technically robust and socially responsible way.

Key technical topics and requirements

• Terms, definitions and metrics: Standardized vocabulary for biometric concepts in VSS and metrics for defining performance and evaluation.
• Architecture and use cases: Reference architectures and scenarios including real-time alerts, post-event review and enrolment workflows.
• Hardware and software specification: Guidance on camera selection, camera positioning, illumination, inducing frontal views, and supporting infrastructure required for reliable biometric capture.
• Biometric software requirements: Recommendations for face detection, face comparison algorithms, algorithm selection, testing and related non-biometric analytics.
• Reference image (gallery/watchlist) guidance: Best practices on image selection, image quality, gallery size relative to performance needs, and maintenance of reference databases.
• Computational and multi-camera considerations: Sizing compute resources, optimizing core biometric processes and coordinating multi-camera operations.
• Data formats and metadata: Recommendations for formats for facial images and derived metadata used for matching, audit and operator review.
• Operator support and user interfaces: Principles for effective operator workflows, alert presentation, and training requirements for human reviewers.
• Governance, privacy and societal considerations: Requirements for data protection, signage, accountability and processes to ensure security, privacy and fit‑for‑purpose deployment.
• Performance and PAD metrics: Guidance on performance targets and presentation attack detection (PAD) metrics relevant to VSS contexts.

Practical applications

• Real-time watchlist alerting (security checkpoints, high-value sites)
• Post-event forensic review (law enforcement investigations)
• Border and traveller triaging (integrated with e-passport checks)
• Commercial uses (customer recognition, premium service)
• Crowd analytics and related video analytics (crowd density, queue length, abandoned baggage)

Who should use this standard

• System integrators and VSS designers
• Security architects and operations teams
• Law enforcement and border agencies
• Procurement officers specifying biometric VSS solutions
• Privacy officers, governance and compliance teams
• Test labs and evaluators assessing performance

Related standards

• Other parts of the ISO/IEC 30137 series (performance testing, data annotation)
• Relevant biometric data format and privacy standards (see normative references in the document for specifics)

ISO/IEC 30137-1:2024 is essential for organizations seeking to specify, deploy or evaluate biometric-enabled video surveillance systems with clear technical, operational and governance guidance.