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Introduction:
What is Biometrics? Biometrics refers to the automatic identification of a person based on his/her physiological or behavioral characteristics. This method of identification is preferred over current methods involving passwords and PIN numbers for various reasons: the person to be identified is required to be physically present at the point-of-identification; identification based on biometric techniques obviates the need to remember a password or carry a token. With the increased use of computers as vehicles of information technology, it is necessary to restrict access to sensitive/personal data. By replacing PINs, biometric techniques can potentially prevent unauthorized access to or fraudulent use of ATMs, cellular phones, smart cards, desktop PCs, workstations, and computer networks. PINs and passwords may be forgotten, and token based methods of identification like passports and driver's licenses may be forged, stolen, or lost. Thus biometric systems of identification are enjoying a renewed interest. Various types of biometric systems are being used for real-time identification, the most popular are based on face recognition and fingerprint matching. However, there are other biometric systems that utilize iris and retinal scan, speech, facial thermo grams, and hand geometry. A biometric system is essentially a
pattern recognition system which makes a personal identification by determining
the authenticity of a specific physiological or behavioral characteristics
possessed by the user. An important issue in designing a practical system is to
determine how an individual is identified. Depending on the context, a biometric
system can be either a verification (authentication) system or an identification
system.
What kind of systems are out there? They include fingerprints, retinal and iris scanning, hand geometry, voice patterns, facial recognition and other techniques. They are of interest in any area where it is important to verify the true identity of an individual. Initially, these techniques were employed primarily in specialist high security applications, however we are now seeing their use and proposed use in a much broader range of public facing situations.
What kind of system is this? The hand based
biometric systems can be employed in those applications which don't require
extreme security but where robustness and low-cost are primary issues: as
examples we can mention security applications in hospitals, airports, big
stores,...
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