BIOMETRICS

Definition
"Biometrics is the automated identification, or verification of human identity
through the measurement of repeatable physiological, or behavioral
characteristics”
In general terms identification means the search of a biometric sample against a
database of other samples in order to ascertain whether the donor is already contained in,
or new to the database.
Verification refers to the 'one to one' comparison between a sample and another
to ask the question, 'are you who you say you are.' The majority of access control
applications utilize verification techniques, rather than attempting searches of databases,
which could compromise accuracy and raise costs.
“Biometrics is the development of statistical and mathematical methods
applicable to data analysis problems in the biological sciences.”
The term "biometrics" is derived from the Greek words bio (life) and metric (to
measure). For our use, biometrics refers to technologies for measuring and analyzing a
person's physiological or behavioral characteristics, such as fingerprints, irises, voice
patterns, facial patterns, and hand measurements, for identification and verification
purposes.

Figure 1 Explains the meaning of definition

Identification and verification have long been accomplished by showing
something you have, such as a license or a passport. Sometimes it also required
something you know, such as a password or a PIN. As we move into a time when we
need more secure and accurate measures, we begin to look at using something you are:
biometrics .
Working Principle of Biometrics
Biometric devices consist of a reader or scanning device, software that converts
the gathered information into digital form, and a database that stores the biometric data
for comparison with previous records. When converting the biometric input, the software
identifies specific points of data as match points. The match points are processed using
an algorithm into a value that can be compared with biometric data in the database.
All Biometric authentications require 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)

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 The figure 2 explains the authentication Techniques

Figure 2 Enrollment and Verification Technique

During Enrollment, as shown in the picture above, 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 under two different names. This is
sometimes called “one-to-many” matching.
A system can also be used in Verification mode, where the biometric system
authenticates a person’s claimed identity from their previously enrolled pattern. This is
also called “one-to-one” matching. In most computer access or network access
environments, verification mode would be used. A user enters an account, user name, or
inserts a token such as a smart card, but instead of entering a password, a simple glance
at a camera is enough to authenticate the user.
Types of Biometrics
There are two types of biometrics: behavioral and physical.
Behavioral biometrics is generally used for verification while physical
biometrics can be used for either identification or verification
Some of physical biometrics is
 Fingerprint - analyzing fingertip patterns
 Facial Recognition - measuring facial characteristics
 Hand Geometry - measuring the shape of the hand
 Iris recognition - analyzing features of colored ring of the eye
 Vascular Patterns - analyzing vein patterns
 Retinal Scan - analyzing blood vessels in the eye
 Bertillonage - measuring body lengths (no longer used)

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 Some of behavioral biometrics are
 Speaker Recognition - analyzing vocal behavior
 Signature - analyzing signature dynamics
 Keystroke - measuring the time spacing of typed words
IRIS Recognition Technology
History of iris recognition technology
The idea of using iris patterns for personal identification was originally
documented in an ophthalmology textbook by James Doggarts in 1949, and may
have been proposed as early as 1936 by ophthalmologist Frank Burch. By the
1980's the idea had appeared in James Bond films, but it still remained science
fiction and conjecture
In 1987 two other ophthalmologists, Aran Safir and Leonard Flom,
patented this idea, and in 1989 they asked John Daugman (then teaching at
Harvard University) to try to create actual algorithms for iris recognition. These
algorithms, which Daugman patented in 1994, are the basis for all current iris
recognition systems and products
The Daugman algorithms are owned by Iridian Technologies, and the
process is licensed to several other companies who serve as systems integrators
and developers of special platforms exploiting iris recognition
Iris structure

Figure 3 Iris Structure

The iris is a protected internal organ of the eye, located behind the cornea and the
aqueous humour, but in front of the lens. The false acceptance rate for iris recognition
systems is in 1 in 1.2 million, that is every 1 in 1.2 million iris is found to be unique in
it’s features. It is seen in cross-section in the anatomical drawing above. It is the only
internal organ of the body that is normally visible externally. Images of the iris adequate
for personal identification with very high confidence can be acquired from distances of
up to about 3 feet (1 meter).
Among the visible features of an iris are the trabecular meshworks of connective
tissue (pectinate ligament), the collagenous tissue of the stroma, ciliary’s processes,
contraction furrows, crypts, rings, a corona and pupillary frill, colouration, and
sometimes freckles. The striated anterior layer covering the trabecular meshwork creates
the predominant texture seen with visible light

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 The human iris begins to form during the third month of gestation. The structures
creating its distinctive pattern are complete by the eighth month of gestation, but
pigmentation continues into the first years after birth. The layers of the iris have both
ectodermal and mesodermal embryological origin, consisting of (from back to front): a
darkly pigmented epithelium; pupillary dilator and sphincter muscles; heavily
vascularized stroma (connective tissue of interlacing ligaments containing melanocytes);
and an anterior layer of chromataphores and melanocytes with a genetically determined
density of melanin pigment granules .
The combined effect is a visible pattern displaying various distinctive features
such as arching ligaments, crypts, furrows, ridges, and a zigzag collarette. Iris colour is
determined mainly by the density of the stroma and its melanin content, with blue irises
resulting from an absence of pigment: longer wavelengths differentially penetrate while
shorter wavelengths are reflected and scattered, a phenomenon resembling that which
makes the sky blue .
Physiological Properties of Iris
Further properties of the iris that enhance its suitability for use in high confidence
identification systems include:
1. Its inherent isolation and protection from the external environment.
2. The impossibility of surgically modifying iris without unacceptable risk to vision.
Its physiological response to light, which provides one of several natural tests
against artifice.
3. A property the iris shares with fingerprints is the random morphogenesis of its
minutiae. Because there is no genetic penetrance in the expression of this organ
beyond its anatomical form, physiology, colour and general appearance, the iris
texture itself is stochastic or possibly chaotic.
4. Its detailed morphogenesis depends on initial conditions in the embryonic
mesoderm from which it develops, the phenotypic expression even of two irises
with the same genetic genotype (as in identical twins, or the pair possessed by one
individual) have uncorrelated minutiae .
5. The ease of registering iris image at some distance from a Subject without
physical contact, unintrusively and perhaps inconspicuously
6. It’s intrinsic polar geometry, which imparts a natural coordinate system and an
origin of coordinates.
7. The high level of randomness in iris pattern, creating inter-Subject variability
spanning about 250 degrees-of-freedom, and an entropy (information density) of
about 3.2 bits per square-millimeter of iris tissue.
Working Principle Of Iris Recognition Technology
The iris-scan process begins with a photograph. A specialized camera, typically
very close to the subject, no more than three feet, uses an infrared imager to illuminate
the eye and capture a very high-resolution photograph.

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 The figure4 shows iris image after image acquisition process.

Figure 4 Iris Image After Image Acquisition Process

This process takes only one to two seconds and provides the details of the iris that
are mapped, recorded and stored for future matching/verification .
The inner edge of the iris is located by an iris-scan algorithm, which maps the
iris’ distinct patterns and characteristics. An algorithm is a series of directives that tell a
biometric system how to interpret a specific problem. Algorithms have a number of steps
and are used by the biometric system to determine if a biometric sample and record is a
match
A general iris recognition system for personal identification is composed of four
steps
i) Iris Image Acquisition- an image containing the user’s eye is captured by the high
resolution Iris Camera.
ii) Image Preprocessing- the image is then preprocessed to normalize the scale and
illumination of the iris and localize the iris from the acquired image.
iii)Feature Extraction- features representing the iris patterns are extracted.
iv)Pattern Matching - decision is made by means of matching.
i) Iris Image Acquisition
An important and difficult step of an iris recognition system is image acquisition.
Since iris is small in size and dark in color, using some specialized camera iris image can
be easily acquired for analysis
ii) Image Preprocessing
The acquired image always contains not only the’ useful’ parts (iris) but also
some ‘irrelevant’ parts (e.g. eyelid, pupil etc.). Under some conditions, the brightness is
not uniformly distributed. In addition, different eye-to camera distance may result in
different image sizes of the same eye. For the purpose of analysis, the original image
needs to be preprocessed. The preprocessing is composed of three steps
 Iris Localization.
 Iris Normalization.
 Image Enhancement.

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Iris Localization
The iris ring should be extracted from the captured image. To extract the iris ring,
the inner boundary between the pupil and the iris and the outer boundary of the iris have
to be detected with help of some algorithm
Iris Normalization
The size of the pupil may change due to the variation of the illumination and the
hippus, and the associated elastic deformations in the iris texture may interfere with the
results of pattern matching. For the purpose of accurate texture analysis, it is necessary to
compensate this deformation. Since both the inner and outer boundaries of the iris have
been detected, it is easy to map the iris ring to a rectangular block of texture of a fixed
size
Image Enhancement
The original iris image has low contrast and may have non-uniform illumination
caused by the position of the light source. These may impair the result of the texture
analysis. So, the iris ring has to be enhanced
iii) Feature Extraction
This process deals with the extraction of features of iris from the normalized
block of texture image (obtained during Image Preprocessing), by implementing any one
of the well-established texture analysis methods
iv) Pattern Matching.
This process compares the currently extracted feature vectors with those of
already stored in the database. A particular user is declared as authenticated and valid
only if a match is found
Features of Iris
• Iris recognition combines computer vision, pattern recognition, statistics, and the
human-machine interface. The purpose is real-time, high confidence recognition of a
person's identity by mathematical analysis of the random patterns that are visible
within the iris of an eye from some distance.
• Iris scan biometrics employs the unique characteristics and features of the human
iris in order to verify the identity of an individual.
• Eyeglasses and contact lenses present no problems to the quality of the image and
the iris-scan systems test for a live eye by checking for the normal continuous
fluctuation in pupil size.
Ms. R. Rooba Lecturer(SS)
Depatrtment of Computer Science(P.G.).