biometrics.

Let’s look at several biometric systems and their advantages and disadvantages.

Face Recognition

Each individual’s facial image has distinctive features based on eyebrows, the width of the eyes, the breadth of the nose, etc. The facial recognition system first captures an individual’s facial image and differentiates the face from the background. It then extracts features from the facial image.

A facial recognition system can use around 80 features, including jawline length, eye socket depth, the distance between the eyes, cheekbone shape, and the width of the nose.

The distinctive features are then suitably represented in a mathematical format and stored in the database. Later, this data is retrieved and compared with the collected information for authentication.

Advantages

• It is not intrusive.
• It is hands-free and convenient.
• It can be done from a distance. This can be useful if used responsibly for surveillance purposes, such as identifying criminals from a crowd.

Disadvantages

• A facial recognition system should be resistant to factors like facial expressions, etc.
• Face recognition may not work correctly with factors such as poor lighting, sunglasses, a partially covered face, and low-resolution images.
• If not used responsibly with the permission of the individual, face recognition can be a significant privacy violation.

Iris Recognition

The iris is the colored ring around the pupil of a human being. It has intricate random patterns, which are unique and can be seen even from a certain distance. An iris recognition system analyzes the intricate random patterns of an iris and detects a person’s identity based on that.

Advantages

• Iris recognition technology is not very intrusive as it does not need direct contact between the subject and the camera.
• Iris recognition can be done using simple video technology.
• Error rates of the iris recognition system are very low, and it can be reliably used for authentication purposes.

Disadvantages

• Scanning the iris may be inconvenient, as objects like eyelids or eyelashes can cover it.
• Iris recognition biometrics may prove difficult for people with blindness or cataracts.
• The camera used to take iris images should have the correct amount of illumination. Otherwise, it may prove difficult to capture an accurate image of the iris.

Fingerprints Recognition

In this method, the digital representation of a fingerprint is scanned using a fingerprint scanner, and then features are extracted based on the ridges and valleys of the fingerprint. Later, these features are used to identify and authenticate an individual. Among all biometric techniques, fingerprint recognition is the most popular method and is widely used.

Advantages

• Fingerprints of an individual develop at the age of about seven months and remain unchanged for the rest of life. These characteristics do not change easily and so can be used reliably for authentication.

Disadvantages

• For some people, it is intrusive, as it is still related to criminal identification.
• Captured biometric data is large and needs compression to store efficiently.

Keystroke Rhythm Recognition

Each individual has his own typing rhythm and based on that, biometric authentication can be …