Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Physical Biometrics Matthew Webb ECE 8741

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Physical Biometrics

Matthew Webb

ECE 8741


Introduction

• Identity authentication is used in all aspects of present day life– ATM, car, house, work, computer

• Biometrics are a convenient and secure way of producing valid ID

• Can never forget it or lose it


Biometrics

• What is biometrics?– The study of automated identification by use of

physical or behavioral traits– Growing field due to applicability to many

aspects of everyday life– Very popular since the events of 9-11


Physical vs Behavioral

• Physical– Fingerprint– Iris – Ear– Face– Retina– Hands

• Behavioral– Signature– Walking gait– Typing patterns

• Both– Voice


Essential Properties of a Biometric

• Universal– Everyone should have the characteristic

• Uniqueness– No two persons have the same characteristic

• Permanence– Characteristic should be unchangeable

• Collectability– Characteristic must be measurable


Biometric System Process Flow


Pattern Recognition

• Description and classification of measurements taken from physical or mental processes

• Examination of pattern characteristics

• Formulation of the recognition system

• Important part of any biometric system


Key Measures of a Biometric System

• False Acceptance Rate (FAR)– Rate of imposters being accepted as genuine user

• False Rejection Rate (FRR)– Rate of genuine users being rejected

• Equal Error Rate (EER)– Point at which the FAR and the FRR are equal


Fingerprint

• Oldest known method of biometrics

• Skin has ridges that are non-continuous and form a pattern

• Used in criminal databases

• Used for security on laptops


Fingerprint Recognition

• Two main types– Minutia matching

• Galton features– dots, islands, ponds, spurs, bridges, crossovers, and

bifurcations

– Pattern matching• Henry system

– left loop, right loop, arch, whorl, and tented arch


Fingerprint


Hand Geometry and Palmprints

• Palmprints are an extension of fingerprint

• Hand shape new technique of identification

• Uses features such as finger position, shape, length, width, and curvature

• Used in multimodal systems right now


Hand Shape Features


Face

• Most widely used and distinctive way humans recognize each other

• Quite popular research subject

• Used in casinos, large sporting events, and galas

• Takes many images over time as opposed to a single capture


Types of Facial Recognition Systems

• Feature based– Finds certain points such as tip of nose, eyes, and

ends of mouth– Creates a geometric map of the face

• Global– Uses the entire face image

• Eigenface technique and neural networks


Facial Recognition


Ears

• One of the better biometrics

• Does not change with age, facial expression

• Does not wear out

• Normally found in the same basic spot for all

• Immature technique

• Used in bimodal systems with facial profile


Ears


Iris

• Perhaps the most reliable of all biometrics

• Completely random

• Also an immature technology

• Characteristics include rings, furrows, freckles, striations, crypts, and the iris corona


Iris Recognition Techniques

• Phase-based method

• Zero-crossings representation

• Texture analysis

• Local intensity variation


Sample Iris Images


Conclusion

• Biometrics are going to be used for many things in the near future

• Introduced under the assumption that its for convenience

• In reality there for security

• Accomplishes both very well

Documents

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Physical Biometrics Matthew Webb ECE 8741