Submitted by: Submitted by stanlee
Views: 564
Words: 3168
Pages: 13
Category: Science and Technology
Date Submitted: 02/25/2011 05:41 AM
Biometric Authentication Technology: From the Movies to Your
Desktop
by Fernando L. Podio1 and Jeffrey S. Dunn2,
A door silently opens, activated by a video camera and a face recognition
system. Computer access is granted by checking a fingerprint. Access to
a security vault is allowed after an iris check. Are these scenes from the
latest Hollywood spy thriller? Perhaps, but soon it could be in your office
or on your desktop. Biometric authentication technologies such as face, finger, hand, iris and speaker
recognition are commercially available today and are already coming into wide use. Recent advances in
reliability and performance and cost drops make these technologies attractive solutions for many computer
and network access, protection of digital content and physical access control problems.
What are Biometrics?
Biometrics are automated methods of identifying a person or verifying the identity of a person based on a
physiological or behavioral characteristic. Examples of physiological characteristics include hand or finger
images, facial characteristics, and iris recognition. Behavioral characteristics are traits that are learned or
acquired. Dynamic signature verification, speaker verification, and keystroke dynamics are examples of
behavioral characteristics.
Biometric authentication requires comparing a registered or enrolled biometric sample (biometric template
or identifier) against a newly captured biometric sample (for example, a fingerprint captured during a login).
During Enrollment, as shown in the picture below, a sample of the biometric trait is captured, processed
by a computer, and stored for later comparison.
Biometric recognition can be used in Identification mode, where the biometric system identifies a person
from the entire enrolled population by searching a database for a match based solely on the biometric. For
example, an entire database can be searched to verify a person has not applied for entitlement benefits...