RealSense™ ID SDK is a cross-platform library for facial authentication solution.

Important Notice

We are happy to announce that the RealSense GitHub repositories have been successfully migrated to the RealSenseAI organization. Please make sure to update your links to the new RealSenseAI organization for both cloning the repositories and accessing specific files within them.

https://github.com/IntelRealSense/RealSenseID --> https://github.com/realsenseai/RealSenseID

Note: A redirection from the previous name IntelRealSense is currently in place, but we cannot guarantee how long it will remain active. We recommend that all users update their references to point to the new GitHub location.

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Platforms
3. Building
4. Sample Code
5. Operation Modes
6. Project Structure
7. Secure Communication
8. License
9. RealSense™ ID Device Architecture Diagram

Overview

RealSense™ ID is a trusted on-device facial authentication solution.

The RealSense™ ID module performs face authentication on a closed real-time operating system (RTOS) using neural network–based algorithms, delivering secure, accurate recognition that adapts to users over time. Privacy is built in — authentication requires active user awareness, and anti-spoofing technology guards against attacks using photographs, videos, or masks.

Designed to work for everyone, from children to tall adults, RealSense™ ID simplifies secure entry across Smart Locks, Access Control, PoS, ATMs, and Kiosks.

Developer kits are available for purchase at store.realsenseai.com. For more on the technology, visit realsenseai.com/facial-authentication.

For high-level architecture, see the RealSense™ ID Architecture Diagram.

Note: "Device" throughout this document refers to the RealSense™ ID F450 / F455 / F500 / F505.

AI Usage

See SKILL.md for guidance when using this SDK with AI tools.

Platforms

• Linux (Ubuntu 18.04+, Raspberry Pi 4+, Jetson)
• Windows (Windows 10+)
• Android 8-16

Bindings

• C/C++
• Python
• C#
• Android

Building

Quick Start

# Linux
scripts/build.sh

# Windows
scripts\build.bat

This builds the library and tools in Release mode. Use --help (or /help) to see optional flags.

Manual CMake

Use CMake version 3.14 or above:

$ cd <project_dir>
$ mkdir build && cd build
$ cmake ..
$ cmake --build . --config Debug

CMake Options

The following options are available for the cmake command

Option	Default	Description
RSID_DEBUG_CONSOLE	ON	Log everything to console
RSID_DEBUG_FILE	OFF	Log everything to rsid_debug.log file
RSID_DEBUG_SERIAL	OFF	Log all serial communication
RSID_DEBUG_PACKETS	OFF	Log packets sent/received over the serial line
RSID_DEBUG_VALUES	OFF	Replace default common values with debug ones
RSID_SAMPLES	OFF	Build samples
RSID_TIDY	OFF	Enable clang-tidy
RSID_PEDANTIC	OFF	Enable extra compiler warnings
RSID_PROTECT_STACK	OFF	Enable stack protection compiler flags
RSID_DOXYGEN	OFF	Build doxygen documentation
RSID_SECURE	OFF	Enable secure communication with device
RSID_TOOLS	ON	Build additional tools
RSID_PY	OFF	Build Python wrapper
RSID_PREVIEW	OFF	Enable preview feature
RSID_LIBUVC	OFF	Use libuvc instead of V4L2 for preview (Linux only; forced ON on Android)
RSID_TESTS	OFF	Build unit tests
RSID_INSTALL	OFF	Generate the install target and rsidConfig.cmake (not available on Android)

Linux Post Install

In order to install the udev rules for the RealSense™ ID devices, run the command:

sudo script/udev-setup.sh -i

Note: You can undo the changes/uninstall by using the -u flag.

The capture device will be available to plugdev users while the serial port will be available to dialout users. On Debian/Ubuntu, you can add current user to those groups by issuing the commands:

sudo adduser $USER dialout
sudo adduser $USER plugdev

Note: Changes in group membership will take effect after logout/login (or reboot).

Windows Post Install

In order to be able to capture metadata for RAW format, open a PowerShell terminal as Administrator and run the command

# F450 / F455
.\scripts\realsenseid_metadata_win10-f450.ps1

# F500 / F505
.\scripts\realsenseid_metadata_win10-f500.ps1

Sample Code

This snippet shows the basic usage of our library.

RealSenseID::FaceAuthenticator authenticator;
connect_status = authenticator.Connect({"COM4"});

// Enroll a user
const char* user_id = "John";
MyEnrollClbk enroll_clbk;
auto status = authenticator.Enroll(enroll_clbk, user_id);

// Authenticate a user
MyAuthClbk auth_clbk;
status = authenticator.Authenticate(auth_clbk);

// Remove the user from device
success = authenticator.RemoveUser(user_id);

For additional languages, build instruction and detailed code please see our code samples and tools.

Operation Modes

Device Mode

Device Mode is a set of APIs that enable the user to enroll and authenticate on the device itself, including database management and matching on the device.

Host Mode

Host Mode is a set of APIs for users who wish to manage a faceprints database on the host or the server. In this mode the RealSenseID camera is used as a Feature-Extraction device only.

The API provides a 'matching' function which predicts whether two faceprints belong to the same person, thus enabling the user to scan their database for similar users.

Project Structure

The SDK is organized into the following directories:

Directory	Contents
include/RealSenseID/	Public C++ API headers
samples/	Code samples in C++, C, Python, and C#
tools/	Command-line tools: rsid-cli, rsid-fw-update, rsid-viewer
wrappers/	Language bindings: C, Python, C#, Android

For the full C++ API reference — including FaceAuthenticator, DeviceController, Preview, and FwUpdater — see include/RealSenseID/README.md.

Secure Communication

The library can be compiled in secure mode. Once paired with the device, all communications will be protected. If you wish to get back to non-secure communications, you must first unpair your device.

Cryptographic algorithms that are used for session protection:

• Message signing - ECDSA P-256 (secp256-r1).
• Shared session key generation - ECDH P-256 (secp256-r1)
• Message encryption - AES-256, CTR mode.
• Message integrity - HKDF-256.

To enable secure mode, the host should perform the following steps:

• Compile the library with RSID_SECURE enabled.
• Generate a set of ECDSA P-256 (secp256-r1) public and private keys. The host is responsible for keeping his private key safe.
• Pair with the device to enable secure communication. Pairing is performed once using the FaceAuthenticator API.
• Implement a SignatureCallback. Signing and verifying is done with the ECDSA P-256 (secp256-r1) keys. Please see the pairing sample on how to pair the device and use keys.

Each request from the host to the device starts a new encrypted session, which performs an ECDH P-256 (secp256-r1) key exchange to create the shared secret for encrypting the current session.

class MySigClbk : public RealSenseID::SignatureCallback
{
public:
    bool Sign(const unsigned char* buffer, const unsigned int buffer_len, unsigned char* out_sig) override
    {
      // Sign buffer with host ECDSA private key
    }

    bool Verify(const unsigned char* buffer, const unsigned int buffer_len, const unsigned char* sig,const unsigned int sign_len) override
    {
      // Verify buffer with device ECDSA public key
    }
};

MySigClbk sig_clbk;
RealSenseID::FaceAuthenticator authenticator {&sig_clbk};
Status connect_status = authenticator.Connect({"COM9"});
authenticator.Disconnect();
char* hostPubKey = getHostPubKey(); // 64 bytes ECDSA public key of the host
char host_pubkey_signature[64];
if (!sig_clbk.Sign((unsigned char*)hostPubKey, 64, host_pubkey_signature))
{
    printf("Failed to sign host ECDSA key\n");
    return;
}
char device_pubkey[64]; // Save this key after getting it to use it for verification
Status pair_status = authenticator.Pair(host_pubkey, host_pubkey_signature, device_pubkey);

Python API

"""
Authenticate example
"""
import rsid_py

def on_result(result, user_id):
    if result == rsid_py.AuthenticateStatus.Success:
        print('Authenticated user:', user_id)

with rsid_py.FaceAuthenticator("COM4") as f:
    f.authenticate(on_result=on_result)

Please visit the python samples page for details and samples.

License

This project is licensed under Apache 2.0 license. Relevant license info can be found in "License Notices" folder.

RealSense™ ID Device Architecture Diagram

graph TB
    %% ───────────── Host Layer ─────────────
    subgraph HOST["🖥️ Host Application"]
        APP["Your Application<br/>C / C++ / C# / Python / Android"]
    end

    %% ───────────── SDK Layer ─────────────
    subgraph SDK["📦 RealSenseID SDK"]
        direction TB

        subgraph API["API Modules"]
            direction LR
            PREVIEW["🎥 Preview<br/>Start · Stop"]
            AUTH["🔐 FaceAuthenticator<br/>Enroll · Authenticate<br/>Remove Users"]
            DEVICE["⚙️ DeviceController<br/>Connect · Reboot<br/>Query FW Version"]
            FWUPDATE["🔧 FwUpdater<br/>Update · CheckCompatibility"]
        end

        subgraph COMMS["Communication Layer"]
            direction LR
            PROTOCOL["📡 Serial Protocol<br/>Packet Handling"]
            SERIAL["🔌 Serial Interface<br/>UART · USB CDC"]
        end

        AUTH --> COMMS
        DEVICE --> COMMS
        FWUPDATE --> COMMS
    end

    %% ───────────── Device Layer ─────────────
    subgraph DEVICE_HW["🧠 Device (On-Chip)"]
        direction TB

        subgraph DRIVERS["Communication Drivers"]
            direction LR
            UVC["UVC Video<br/>USB Preview Stream"]
            USB_CDC["USB CDC"]
            UART_DRV["UART"]
        end

        SECURE["🛡️ Secure Element · OTP<br/>Secure Boot · Secure FW Upgrade"]

        subgraph AI["Face Authentication Pipeline"]
            direction LR
            DETECT["👁️ Face Detection<br/>Face Detection · Landmarks"]
            SPOOF["🎭 Anti-Spoofing"]
            RECOG["✅ Face Recognition"]
            TEMPLATES["📁 Template<br/>Management"]
        end

        subgraph HW["Hardware"]
            direction LR
            SENSORS["📷 IR Sensors<br/>Left + Right"]
            NPU["⚡ NPU"]
            FLASH["💾 Secured Flash"]
        end

        DRIVERS --> SECURE
        SECURE --> AI
        AI --> HW
        TEMPLATES <-.->|"Read/Write"| FLASH
    end

    %% ───────────── Connections between layers ─────────────
    APP -->|"Enroll · Authenticate · Preview · Device Control"| API
    SERIAL -->|"USB / UART"| DRIVERS
    PREVIEW -->|"UVC Preview"| UVC

    %% ───────────── Styles ─────────────
    classDef hostStyle fill:#4A90D9,stroke:#2E6BA6,color:#fff,font-weight:bold
    classDef sdkStyle fill:#2EA67A,stroke:#1E7A5A,color:#fff,font-weight:bold
    classDef deviceStyle fill:#E8833A,stroke:#C06A2E,color:#fff,font-weight:bold
    classDef hwStyle fill:#7B61C2,stroke:#5A45A0,color:#fff,font-weight:bold

    class APP hostStyle
    class PREVIEW,AUTH,DEVICE,FWUPDATE sdkStyle
    class PROTOCOL,SERIAL sdkStyle
    class UVC,USB_CDC,UART_DRV,SECURE deviceStyle
    class DETECT,SPOOF,RECOG,TEMPLATES deviceStyle
    class SENSORS,NPU,FLASH hwStyle

Loading