A TRAILBLAZING technology firm in York is helping to keep America safe from another 9/11 outrage.

Cybula Ltd on York Science Park has invented a 3-D facial biometric system - in-the-round digital images which can be picked out in only two seconds from millions stored.

The US Government's VISIT programme, set up in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, is now trialling the York firm's new system, called FaceEnforce, as part of its $18 billion brief to protect ports and borders all over America.

VISIT officials believe that the York system could be a vital tool in its fight for "homeland security."

Other image recognition systems are in operation, but none like this, which is able instantly to record and show faces in three dimensions with measurements. Iris recognition and fingerprint tests are far slower and more technical by comparison.

A single specialised camera click, and the machine deduces in a human-like way the full-face, profile and half-profile characteristics of the subject.

If FaceEnforce is permanently adopted in the US, it will pave the way for it to be integrated into crime and terrorist fighting services all over the world.

The system could also be installed in offices the world over - security markets potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

Cybula Ltd is headed by Professor Jim Austin, who runs the advanced computer architecture group in the department of computer science at the University of York.

It was there that he and academic colleagues researched high performance pattern-matching by aping the electronic impulses in the brain. Over the course of 15 years, they developed a technique called Aura.

Seeing its commercial potential, Prof Austin started Cybula and launched a website. Two years ago, his six-person business was approached by Washington-based AC Technology. It wanted Cybula to explore the possibility of instant face recognition in 3D.

Prof Austin said: "At first I didn't think it could be done, but we worked closely with the team of 40 at the university. They are brilliant people. In just one and a half years we created a system to get us up to the best in the world. By the end of February we were able to deliver our first system to AC Technology."

The US VISIT trials should take up to five months.

Updated: 11:06 Monday, May 16, 2005