What Is Biometric identification? Each of us is a unique creature in this world. The fingerprints, the retina, and the iris, the shape of the ears, the geometry of the hands, the veins of the hands, the geometry of the nose or even the body odor, and the thermal diagram of each of our faces are unlike any other in this world. Biometric systems prove this claim with a certain delicacy and precision, and in this regard, we are faced with various technologies.
Biometric technologies lead us to believe that there is only one version of who we are in this world and that version is unique. Such a claim may seem large and unbelievable, but it is true. Biometric identification technologies use the same method and can identify individuals uniquely.
In the distant past, only humans were thought to be unique in terms of fingerprints, but with the advancement of science it became clear that this was not the case, and more research was done on the differences between humans in terms of retina and iris.
Biometric identification methods
Specialists have so far examined various methods for biometric identification and conducted various experiments on the error rate and efficiency of each method:
1- Fingerprint
2- Hand geometry
3- Measuring the retina
4- Measuring the iris
5- Face recognition
6- Signature recognition
7- Voice recognition
8- DNA test
9- Diagnosis from a hand vein
10- Face thermal diagram
11- The intensity of the impact on the keyboard
12- The shape of the ear
13-Body odor
14- Shape and arrangement of teeth (dental radiology)
15- The shape of the nose
16- Patterns of walking and stepping
17- Palm lines
18- Hair (hair stems and roots)
19- Electromagnetic spectrum of the skin
20- Lips
21- Temperature of different parts of the body
22-Identification by bacteria on the body
23-Identification through body chemicals
24-The appearance of the hand
25-Wrinkles on the skin of the finger
26-How to hold objects
27- Electrical resistance of the skin
28-Voice transmitted from finger bones
29-Magnetic wave emitted from the human body
30-How to track and follow the eye to see objects
31- Corneal surface topography
32-The three-dimensional shape of a finger
33-Spectrum generated by EEG brain signals
34-The shape of the frontal sinuses
35-Identification through heartbeats
36-Identification using dental radiography
37-Identification through unique nails
38-Identification by skin electromagnetic spectrum
39-Identification by displaying the temperature of different parts of the body
The list above includes some of these systems. Some of these methods are currently being used seriously for identification and verification, but some methods are still being tested to reduce their error rate so that they can be generalized.
Biometric identification systems
Usually, smart cards, passports, identity cards, etc. can confirm our unique identity and are in fact our identity document. However, it is possible that such tools may be lost or forged. But biometric-based systems, because they are based on human physiological and behavioral characteristics, do not have such a situation and, of course, have high security and accuracy.
Biometrics is the measurement and statistical analysis of biological data and refers to a technology for measuring and analyzing body characteristics for identification.
Classification of biometric methods
Biometric systems generally use two different characteristics of individuals to identify:
- Physiological parameters: The basis of identification in this class is the measurement and analysis of a person’s fixed characteristics.
- Behavioral parameters: Identify specific behavioral patterns of an individual
Physiological parameters such as fingerprint, retinal detection, iris detection, hand geometry detection, and so on.
Behavioral parameters include items such as signature recognition, voice recognition, identification by the intensity of the person hitting the keyboard, and other methods such as walking patterns, and so on.
Architecture of biometric systems
Almost all biometric systems have the same overall architecture in which data is first received by the sensor. Then the desired attribute is extracted from the data and filtering operations are performed on it.
Data noise is removed and eventually corrected. Finally, it adapts to existing patterns. From the data received in this system after processing, a template is generated and stored according to some available features. In fact, this generated pattern is compared and identified. The nature of this template, which is generated from a predefined template (a fixed standard), is a matrix of zeros and ones.
Biometric technologies
As mentioned, biometric technologies are very broad, but some of them are more popular than others.
Fingerprint identification
One of the oldest methods of identification is fingerprint recognition. The tip of the finger has a series of lines that extend from one side of the finger to the other. These lines have a number of characteristic points called finesse. These details include arcs, spirals, rings, edge ends, forks, points (grooves near the edges), islands (two forks close together), intersections (intersection points of two or more edges), and holes. In fact, the systems compare the patterns produced by these details.
The advantages of fingerprint biometric systems include their uniqueness, resistance to change over time, ease of measurement, low error rate, popularity, and low-cost solution.
Face recognition
The geometric shape of the face is also one of the parameters measured in biometric systems, but it can not be said that it is one of the unique features used for identification.
In this method, the basic features of the face are considered for identification, which includes parts of the eyes, around the nose, mouth, and parts of the cheekbones. This method has not yet reached puberty and, for example, has errors in identifying twins.
Identification through the iris of the eye
The iris is the colored part of the eye and a combination of a circular muscle with a series of radial, layered, or mesh-like lines that formed before human birth and remained virtually unchanged until death. This muscle contains a series of characters such as lines, rings, holes, grooves, strings, spots, etc. that are separable.
Identification from the iris of the eye is a unique solution that does not change much over time and is therefore reliable. This technology is almost one of the most expensive systems and is not very user-friendly because the user has to keep his eyes completely motionless during sampling for accurate modeling.
Retinal identification
The retina is located at the top of the eyeball, which contains a series of blood vessels, and these capillaries have different shapes, this feature is unique to individuals. When the user’s eye is in a specific location, a beam of short-wavelength infrared or green light is emitted into the retina and its reflection is measured by a CCD camera. This method is almost identical to iris detection.
Identification through face thermal diagrams
The facial temperature chart is another parameter that is different in all people, even twins. The thermogram diagram is resistant to the passage of time, makeup and shaving for a limited time, even plastic surgery does not cause damage to the thermogram diagram. To capture the face, an infrared camera with a wavelength of 3 to 5 microns or 8 to 12 microns is used so that it can feel up to a depth of 4 centimeters under the skin.
Identify how you walk
This method is usually used in places where direct communication with people is not possible. Such methods are used especially in airports and security passages. This identification system is almost a secret identification system in which an image of a person while walking is obtained, which represents its unique movement and time diagram. When people walk, the movement of people’s legs and heads is different, and of course, the movement of the hands is also used in some cases.
Identification through hand geometry
In this system, the hand is placed in a specific position. Then, using a digital camera, the hand image is taken from the top and side views and produces a three-dimensional image of the hand. From the obtained image, about 17 parts of the hand, including fingers (length, width, thickness, curvature) and other geometric parameters are considered.
Identification through palm map
This method is similar to the fingerprint method but on a larger scale. Therefore, more features are extracted from it for authentication. In this method, the characteristics of the palms of the people such as the position of the grooves and the condition of the palm lines of the delta area, and the characteristics of the skin texture are measured.
Identification through hand vein map
Because the map of the anterior arteries, as well as the arteries of the wrist, are different for different people, this method can also be used for authentication. This method uses infrared radiation to photograph the arteries, although this method is still under investigation.
Identification through DNA
Fixed DNA strand properties of each person (more than 6 billion features per person) are used for identification and the method is very accurate, but due to the long processing time, more than 10 hours, and the cost of this method only insensitive cases Is used.
Identify by how you type
The way a person types with a keyboard is another behavioral biometrics. Skilled typists are recognized very quickly by their typing patterns. In this method, the time to hold the keys low, the speed, and the amount of error in hitting the keys are important factors.
Voice recognition
In this system, the type of user’s voice and its rhythm are measured, ranked and then these numbers are compared with similar numbers before. This system is mostly used for remote authentication by voice recognition in telecommunications and is not yet as accurate as other biometric systems and can change the results under the influence of physical conditions such as colds, fatigue, and drowsiness.
Authentication by signature
Analyzing how a person signs, often referred to as dynamic signature recognition, is one of the behavioral biometrics. The main indicators of signature analysis are the static signature, the time spent signing, the speed, acceleration, the angle of the pen, the pressure on the pen, the pressure on the paper, and the number of times the pen is removed from the paper. Different people are about 95% different.
Identification through heartbeats
Each person’s heart sound and electrocardiogram waves are also unique in the world and can be used for authentication. This method is also in the research stages.
Identification using dental radiography
One of the unique characteristics of human beings is their teeth. This method of biometry is called dental radiography, which, unlike other methods, is very complicated because the tooth changes over time. A tooth can be lost due to surgery and an accident. For this reason, this method of diagnosis is less acceptable in legal societies, but in some cases, such as murder and arson, it can be the only means of diagnosis. This procedure uses dental radiographs for identification.
Identification through the lips
The lip effect is like a fingerprint. The lip, like the finger, has unique curves and lines. The way the lips move is a behavioral method of identifying and helps identify the speaker, although the method is not very precise. The shape of the lips can also be used for authentication, but it is not yet a common method.
Identification through unique nails
It is one of the new methods and has not been extensively researched. Nails are used for biometrics in two ways: microscopic fleshy strands of flesh under the nail are examined, and capillaries and nerves are examined. The second method of authentication is called Nail RFID, which is rarely used. In this method, an RFID microchip is placed on the surface of the nail and measures the capacitance between the top surface of the nail and the surface of the flesh. This amount of capacitor is unique to each person.
Identification through the electromagnetic spectrum of the skin
In this method, LEDs send to the skin surface a series of pure light at different wavelengths, with only a few photodiodes recording the intensity of the wave returning from the skin surface and then analyzing the information. In general, the amount of light absorbed and reflected by each wave varies according to the wavelength of each person’s skin.
Identification through temperature display of different parts of the body
Different parts of the body emit infrared waves depending on the type and amount of heat. This method is a general method for obtaining image information and can be used for imaging in many of the mentioned methods such as fingerprints, palms, subcutaneous veins, ears, etc.
Identification through hair
Hair is a growing part of mammalian skin that forms a tubular, epidermal structure called a follicle. Identification uses the hair shaft, the brain or the center of the hair, the area around the hair or its cortex, the cuticle or a broad cell row, the inner hair sheath, the outer hair sheath, and its growth cycle to identify.
Identification through body odor
Each person’s body odor is also unique. This method is still in the research stages, but it shows that each person’s body sweat is also unique.
Combined biometric systems
These systems use a combination of several methods that increase security and accuracy in delivering results.
Advantages of biometric systems
Biometric systems have many advantages that reduce the possibility of fraud and unauthorized access and save costs.
With these systems, you no longer need to remember your password or ID card password. These biometric methods are not borrowable, they are not lost or forgotten, they will not even be ruined. Such methods are non-theft and do not require special maintenance and are easy to use. Biometric methods are fast for identification and reduce the security costs of employing trained personnel.
Reduce fraud, theft, and criminal activity. These systems make it possible to determine the true identity of individuals and make it easy to identify suspects. These methods are widely used to fight terrorism and make it impossible to escape the law.
Activities of countries in the field of biometric identification systems
Various countries around the world are active in the biometric industry. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, The Gambia, India, Iraq, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and many other countries are developing biometric authentication technologies.
In the UK, biometric systems are used even in schools. Since 2005, all US passports have biometric data.
In the Netherlands, in September 2009 the government decided that all Dutch passports and identity cards must have biometric fingerprints. In August 2006, Dutch passports were equipped with electronic chips containing personal information and a digital image.
Italy has also developed various protocols on policies for the application of this technology. Sinai University is one of the main centers for promoting these programs.
In Germany, the biometric market grew significantly in 2009. In 2004, close to € 120 million was spent on the field. The federal government was instrumental in this development. Since 2005, most biometric systems have come to the fore, and electronic passports with biometric technology have been used in Germany. Germany is one of the leading countries in the biometric industry. Canada is also widely involved in biometric technology.
Hello! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a team of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!|
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say superb blog!|