The US Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded a $3 million research contract to California-based AOptix to develop “groundbreaking” technology that could one day allow troops in the field to use a smartphone to scan and record facial features and identity people from a distance

These “Smart Mobile Identity” (SMI) devices will allow for biological identity verification in areas where it was previously thought to be impractical, cost prohibitive, or impossible. The devices are part of a portable class of biometrics-based hardware and software products that allows built-in cameras on smartphones or tablets the ability to do facial recognition or with the help of additional sensors, provide fingerprint and iris recognition.

“Currently US troops rely on a single-use device, known as the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection System (HIIDE) to scan, upload and transmit data from someone’s facial, eye or thumb feature into wartime biometrics databases, “The potential applications of SMI include law enforcement, border security*(to keep you locked in), national and civil ID programs*(to track your every movement), disaster relief and humanitarian aid, and healthcare,”*(biometric scanning and adding your DNA to a DNA database to control even your most basic access to resources and Biosurvival) an AOptix spokesman said.