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Biometrics: Biometrics Comprises Methods For Uniquely Recognizing Humans Based Upon One or

Biometrics uses physical and behavioral traits to identify individuals. Iris recognition uses pattern-recognition of iris images to uniquely identify people. A key advantage is the iris template longevity lasting a lifetime. Algorithms extract features to create iris codes for identification. Hamming distance compares codes, with a lower score indicating a match. While the iris is protected and unique, iris recognition has disadvantages such as difficulty with cooperation or distance between subject and camera.

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Prasanna Kumar.G
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53 views

Biometrics: Biometrics Comprises Methods For Uniquely Recognizing Humans Based Upon One or

Biometrics uses physical and behavioral traits to identify individuals. Iris recognition uses pattern-recognition of iris images to uniquely identify people. A key advantage is the iris template longevity lasting a lifetime. Algorithms extract features to create iris codes for identification. Hamming distance compares codes, with a lower score indicating a match. While the iris is protected and unique, iris recognition has disadvantages such as difficulty with cooperation or distance between subject and camera.

Uploaded by

Prasanna Kumar.G
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Biometrics

Biometrics comprises methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or
more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. In computer science, in particular,
biometrics is used as a form of identity access management and access control. It is also
used to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance.

Biometric characteristics can be divided in two main classes:


Physiological are related to the shape of the body. Examples include, but are not
    limited to fingerprint, face recognition, DNA, Palm print, hand geometry, iris
    recognition, which has largely replaced retina, and odor/scent.


Behavioral are related to the behavior of a person. Examples include, but are not
   limited to typing rhythm, gait, and voice. Some researchers have coined the term
   behaviometrics for this class of biometrics.
Iris recognition
Iris recognition is a method of biometric authentication that uses pattern-recognition
techniques based on high-resolution images of the irides of an individual's eyes.
Not to be confused with another, less prevalent, ocular-based technology, retina
scanning, iris recognition uses camera technology, with subtle infrared illumination
reducing specular reflection from the convex cornea, to create images of the detail-
rich, intricate structures of the iris. Converted into digital templates, these images
provide mathematical representations of the iris that yield unambiguous positive
identification of an individual.

Because of its speed of comparison, iris recognition is the only biometric technology
well-suited for one-to-many identification. A key advantage of iris recognition is its
stability, or template longevity, as, barring trauma, a single enrollment can last a
lifetime.

Breakthrough work to create the iris-recognition algorithms required for image


acquisition and one-to-many matching was pioneered by John G. Daugman, Ph.D,
OBE (University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory).
Iris scanners use pattern-recognition techniques
based on images of the irides of an individual's eyes.
Visible Wavelength (VW) vs Near Infrared (NIR) Imaging

The melanin, also known as chromophore, mainly consists of two distinct heterogeneous
macromolecules, called eumelanin (brown–black) and pheomelanin (yellow–
reddish). NIR imaging is not sensitive to these chromophores, and as a result they do
not appear in the captured images. In contrast, visible wavelength (VW) imaging
keeps the related chromophore information and, compared to NIR, provides rich
sources of information mainly coded as shape patterns in iris. An alternative feature
extraction method to encode VW iris images was also introduced, which is highly
robust to reflectivity terms in iris. Such fusion results are seemed to be alternative
approach for multi-modal biometric systems which intend to reach high accuracies of
recognition in large databanks.
Visible Wavelength Iris Image Near Infrared (NIR) version
Operating Principle

An IriScan model 2100 iris scanner


An iris-recognition algorithm first has to identify the approximately concentric circular
outer boundaries of the iris and the pupil in a photo of an eye. The set of pixels
covering only the iris is then transformed into a bit pattern that preserves the
information that is essential for a statistically meaningful comparison between two
iris images. The mathematical methods used resemble those of modern lossy
compression algorithms for photographic images. In the case of Daugman's
algorithms, a Gabor wavelet transform is used in order to extract the spatial
frequency range that contains a good best signal-to-noise ratio considering the focus
quality of available cameras. The result is a set of complex numbers that carry local
amplitude and phase information for the iris image. In Daugman's algorithms, all
amplitude information is discarded, and the resulting 2048 bits that represent an iris
consist only of the complex sign bits of the Gabor-domain representation of the iris
image. Discarding the amplitude information ensures that the template remains
largely unaffected by changes in illumination and virtually negligibly by iris color,
which contributes significantly to the long-term stability of the biometric template.
To authenticate via identification (one-to-many template matching) or verification
(one-to-one template matching), a template created by imaging the iris is compared
to a stored value template in a database.
In information theory, the Hamming distance between two strings of equal length is the
number of positions at which the corresponding symbols are different. Put another
way, it measures the minimum number of substitutions required to change one string
into the other, or the number of errors that transformed one string into the other.

The Hamming distance between:


"toned" and "roses" is 3.
1011101 and 1001001 is 2.
2173896 and 2233796 is 3.

If the Hamming distance is below the decision threshold, a positive identification has
effectively been made.
A practical problem of iris recognition is that the iris is usually partially covered by
eyelids and eyelashes. In order to reduce the false-reject risk in such cases, additional
algorithms are needed to identify the locations of eyelids and eyelashes and to
exclude the bits in the resulting code from the comparison operation.
Advantages

The iris of the eye has been described as the ideal part of the human body for biometric
identification for several reasons:


   It is an internal organ that is well protected against damage and wear by a highly
transparent and sensitive membrane (the cornea). This distinguishes it from fingerprints,
which can be difficult to recognize after years of certain types of manual labor.


   The iris is mostly flat, and its geometric configuration is only controlled by two
complementary muscles (the sphincter pupillae and dilator pupillae) that control the
diameter of the pupil. This makes the iris shape far more predictable than, for instance,
that of the face.


   The iris has a fine texture that—like fingerprints—is determined randomly during
embryonic gestation. Even genetically identical individuals have completely
independent iris textures, whereas DNA (genetic "fingerprinting") is not unique for the
about 0.2% of the human population who have a genetically identical twin.
Disadvantages


   Iris scanning is a relatively new technology and is incompatible with the very
substantial investment that the law enforcement and immigration authorities of some
countries have already made into fingerprint recognition.


   Iris recognition is very difficult to perform at a distance larger than a few meters and
if the person to be identified is not cooperating by holding the head still and looking into
the camera. However, several academic institutions and biometric vendors are
developing products that claim to be able to identify subjects at distances of up to 10
meters ("standoff iris" or "iris at a distance").


   As with other photographic biometric technologies, iris recognition is susceptible to
poor image quality, with associated failure to enroll rates.


   As with other identification infrastructure (national residents databases, ID cards,
etc.), civil rights activists have voiced concerns that iris-recognition technology might
help governments to track individuals beyond their will.
Conclusions


Biometric technology has great potential

There are many biometric products around, regarding the different biometric
technologies

Shortcomings of biometric systems due to

manufacturers ignorance of security concerns

lack of quality control

standardisation problems


Biometric technology is very promising

Manufacturers have to take security concerns serious

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