Fingerprints have traditionally been the one sure-fire ID to prove that you were you. Till the crooks got better than the good guys with stick-on rubber fingertip covers to spoof someone else's prints. The current biometric ID rage is iris scans, which use mathematical pattern recognition techniques on images of the irises of an individual's eyes, whose complex random patterns are unique to the individual. But now it is common knowledge that contact lenses can be fabricated to cheat security scanners and let an imposter through.
Enter the latest wrinkle in biometric authentication -- thermal imaging of the veins of your face. Facial recognition is widely accepted by security systems, and now this technique takes the scanning to the subcutaneous level to identify that you are you, and not some pretender wearing a skin-thin mask.
Researchers at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Jadavpur University, (Kolkata, West Bengal) led by Prof Debotosh Bhattachrjee have now come up with a biometric authentication protocol that relies on the unique nature of the complex web of veins just below the facial skin -- Thermal Face Recognition System (TFRS). Here the thermal infra-red 'maps' of the facial veins are analyzed and compared by computer algorithms in order to authenticate the individual. The technique is 'non-invasive' in that it needs no physical contact unlike in the case of a fingerprint ID system. (Even iris scans need "a close look"at your eyes.) The thermal scans are superior as they are immune to changes that might be brought on by aging, facial hair growth, glasses or cosmetics, and, yes, disguises/masks. Studies have revealed that even identical twins have differing thermal facial patterns. It is claimed that the system has accuracy levels exceeding 97 per cent.
The path-breaking development is sure to take biometric authentication to higher levels ... oops! one level lower!! Who said your face identifes you; it is what lies beneath the skin that counts really!
Learn more at:
http://www.biometricupdate.com/201307/thermal-imaging-of-face-vein-patterns-enters-the-biometric-discussion/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3424639/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometrics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_recognition
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