Iris Scanner & Recognition: Physical biometrics has been making use of various physical traits of human body, including fingerprints, hand geometry, vein structure and so on. A relatively new and comparatively accurate concept employed in this direction is that of iris recognition. The biometric samples are captured using a device called iris scanner, which is a sophisticated piece of modern technology. With all good advantages, these products are surpassing other biometric products.
Features of Iris Scanner
- Iris scanner employs a specialized camera, which emits infrared rays to capture the image of iris.
- The process of capturing the image takes only 2-3 seconds.
- Iris recognition works on the fact that iris structures are more complex than any other physical trait used for physical biometrics. Thus, every template in the biometric device is unique, leading to fast identification and recognition.
- Iris reader makes use of specific algorithms, which are not found in other biometric devices and thus, offer a higher performance level.
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Applications of Iris Scanner
- Border-crossing security agencies employ iris scanner for foreigners to stop illegal immigrations.
- E-passports also utilize the concept of iris recognition, along with fingerprint analysis and face recognition.
- For their fast and accurate results, these devices are also being employed as part of airport security systems.
- Residential security is also considering the use of iris reader to provide protection against thieves and housebreakers.
How Iris Scanner Works?
There are two stages in the iris scanning process for authentication/access: First is the Enrollment process when you use the iris scanner for the first time to save details that is required for the system to identify you for later use. The second stage is called Verification/Recognition, when the system actually allows you to get past after matching your details with the stored data during Enrollment stage.
Iris Scanner Enrollment
Eyes (or iris) of all the people, who needs to go through iris verification, are scanned in this process. Eyes are digitally scanned twice with both ordinary and infrared lights. Infrared lights are used in iris scanning enrollment to get all the minute details of iris structure/pattern that are not visible under ordinary lights. After storing these two digital photographs, the system starts analyzing and identifies about 240 unique features for each person – iris features that are unique to each eye.
These unique iris features are then converted into a number or code (512 digits long), which is called Iris Code. The iris scanning system stores this code along with other details of the person in its database. This two-minute iris enrollment process is fully automatic and just one-time task.
Iris Scanner Verification
This is the regular Verification/Recognition process that is required to get past the iris scanner. You just need to stand in front of a iris scanner and get your eyes (iris) photographed to start the verification process. The system is programmed to extract your Iris Code and match it with the stored details in its database. When it matches, you are identified positively.
Advantages of Iris Scanner
- Iris recognition devices are advantageous due to the fact that iris is one human body part, which is less prone to damage, as compared to fingers, hands and other parts used for physical biometrics.
- Device used for iris recognition promise zero percent false rejection rates as against fingerprint scanner, which offer 3 percent of this rate.
- The process of scanning iris is simple and similar to that of taking a photograph.
- There is no safety issue related to scanning of iris, as the technique is successfully employed in various parts of the world.
- Iris reader is hygienic to use, as the person is not required to touch any device, already used by different users.
- Iris templates can be preserved for longer than any other biometric samples collected using physical biometrics.
Iris scanning targets the ultimate aim of developing biometric technology and that is enhanced security. With low-cost employment and other great advantages, the biometric iris devices are winners for every type of organization.
Further Reading
How Iris Recognition Works by John Daugman, PhD, OBE
Algorithms developed by the author for recognizing persons by their iris patterns have now been tested in six field and laboratory trials, producing no false matches in several million comparison tests. The recognition principle is the failure of a test of statistical independence on iris phase structure encoded by multi-scale quadrature wavelets.
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