Hand Geometry Techniques: A Review

Volume 2 Issue 11 (November 2014

Palmprint Identification Based on Generalization of IrisCode

The development of accurate and reliable security systems is a matter of wide interest, and in this context biometrics is seen as a highly effective automatic mechanism for personal identification. Among biometric technologies, IrisCode developed by Daugman in 1993 is regarded as a highly accurate approach, being able to support real-time personal identification of large databases. Since 1993, on the top of IrisCode, different coding methods have been proposed for iris and fingerprint identification. In this research, I extend and generalize IrisCode for real-time secure palmprint identification. PalmCode, the first coding method for palmprint identification developed by me in 2002, directly applied IrisCode to extract phase information of palmprints as features. However, I observe that the PalmCodes from the different palms are similar, having many 45o streaks. Such structural similarities in the PalmCodes of different palms would reduce the individuality of PalmCodes and the performance of palmprint identification systems. To reduce the correlation between PalmCodes, in this thesis, I employ multiple elliptical Gabor filters with different orientations to compute different PalmCodes and merge them to produce a single feature, called Fusion Code. Experimental results demonstrate that Fusion Code performs better than PalmCode. Based on the results of Fusion Code, I further identify that the orientation fields of palmprints are powerful features. Consequently, Competitive Code, which uses real parts of six Gabor filters to estimate the orientation fields, is developed. To embed the properties of IrisCode, such as high speed matching, in Competitive Code, a novel coding scheme and a bitwise angular distance are proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that Competitive Code is much more effective than other palmprint algorithms. Although many coding methods have been developed based on IrisCode for iris and palmprint identification, we lack a detailed analysis of IrisCode. One of the aims of this research is to provide such analysis as a way of better understanding IrisCode, extending the coarse phase representation to a precise phase representation, and uncovering the relationship between IrisCode and other coding methods. This analysis demonstrates that IrisCode is a clustering process with four prototypes; the locus of a Gabor function is a two-dimensional ellipse with respect to a phase parameter and the bitwise hamming distance can be regarded as a bitwise angular distance. In this analysis, I also point out that the theoretical evidence of the imposter binomial distribution of IrisCode is incomplete. I use this analysis to develop a precise phase representation which can enhance iris recognition accuracy and to relate IrisCode and other coding methods. By making use of this analysis, principal component analysis and simulated annealing, near optimal filters for palmprint identification are sought. The near optimal filters perform better than Competitive Code in term of d’ index. Identical twins having the closest genetics-based relationship are expected to have maximum similarity in their biometrics. Classifying identical twins is a challenging problem for some automatic biometric systems. Palmprint has been studied for personal identification for many years. However, genetically identical palmprints have not been studied. I systemically examine Competitive Code on genetically identical palmprints for automatic personal identification and to uncover the genetically related palmprint features. The experimental results show that the three principal lines and some portions of weak lines are genetically related features but our palms still contain rich genetically unrelated features for classifying identical twins. As biometric systems are vulnerable to replay, database and brute-force attacks, such potential attacks must be analyzed before they are massively deployed in security systems. I propose projected multinomial distribution for studying the probability of successfully using brute-force attacks to break into a palmprint system based on Competitive Code. The proposed model indicates that it is computationally infeasible to break into the palmprint system using brute-force attacks. In addition to brute-force attacks, I address the other three security issues: template re-issuances, also called cancellable biometrics, replay attacks, and database attacks. A random orientation filter bank (ROFB) is used to generate cancellable Competitive Codes for templates re-issuances. Secret messages are hidden in templates to prevent replay and database attacks. This technique can be regarded as template watermarking. A series of analyses is provided to evaluate the security levels of the measures

Palmprint Identification Based on Generalization of IrisCode

The development of accurate and reliable security systems is a matter of wide interest, and in this context biometrics is seen as a highly effective automatic mechanism for personal identification. Among biometric technologies, IrisCode developed by Daugman in 1993 is regarded as a highly accurate approach, being able to support real-time personal identification of large databases. Since 1993, on the top of IrisCode, different coding methods have been proposed for iris and fingerprint identification. In this research, I extend and generalize IrisCode for real-time secure palmprint identification. PalmCode, the first coding method for palmprint identification developed by me in 2002, directly applied IrisCode to extract phase information of palmprints as features. However, I observe that the PalmCodes from the different palms are similar, having many 45o streaks. Such structural similarities in the PalmCodes of different palms would reduce the individuality of PalmCodes and the performance of palmprint identification systems. To reduce the correlation between PalmCodes, in this thesis, I employ multiple elliptical Gabor filters with different orientations to compute different PalmCodes and merge them to produce a single feature, called Fusion Code. Experimental results demonstrate that Fusion Code performs better than PalmCode. Based on the results of Fusion Code, I further identify that the orientation fields of palmprints are powerful features. Consequently, Competitive Code, which uses real parts of six Gabor filters to estimate the orientation fields, is developed. To embed the properties of IrisCode, such as high speed matching, in Competitive Code, a novel coding scheme and a bitwise angular distance are proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that Competitive Code is much more effective than other palmprint algorithms. Although many coding methods have been developed based on IrisCode for iris and palmprint identification, we lack a detailed analysis of IrisCode. One of the aims of this research is to provide such analysis as a way of better understanding IrisCode, extending the coarse phase representation to a precise phase representation, and uncovering the relationship between IrisCode and other coding methods. This analysis demonstrates that IrisCode is a clustering process with four prototypes; the locus of a Gabor function is a two-dimensional ellipse with respect to a phase parameter and the bitwise hamming distance can be regarded as a bitwise angular distance. In this analysis, I also point out that the theoretical evidence of the imposter binomial distribution of IrisCode is incomplete. I use this analysis to develop a precise phase representation which can enhance iris recognition accuracy and to relate IrisCode and other coding methods. By making use of this analysis, principal component analysis and simulated annealing, near optimal filters for palmprint identification are sought. The near optimal filters perform better than Competitive Code in term of d’ index. Identical twins having the closest genetics-based relationship are expected to have maximum similarity in their biometrics. Classifying identical twins is a challenging problem for some automatic biometric systems. Palmprint has been studied for personal identification for many years. However, genetically identical palmprints have not been studied. I systemically examine Competitive Code on genetically identical palmprints for automatic personal identification and to uncover the genetically related palmprint features. The experimental results show that the three principal lines and some portions of weak lines are genetically related features but our palms still contain rich genetically unrelated features for classifying identical twins. As biometric systems are vulnerable to replay, database and brute-force attacks, such potential attacks must be analyzed before they are massively deployed in security systems. I propose projected multinomial distribution for studying the probability of successfully using brute-force attacks to break into a palmprint system based on Competitive Code. The proposed model indicates that it is computationally infeasible to break into the palmprint system using brute-force attacks. In addition to brute-force attacks, I address the other three security issues: template re-issuances, also called cancellable biometrics, replay attacks, and database attacks. A random orientation filter bank (ROFB) is used to generate cancellable Competitive Codes for templates re-issuances. Secret messages are hidden in templates to prevent replay and database attacks. This technique can be regarded as template watermarking. A series of analyses is provided to evaluate the security levels of the measures

A Longitudinal Analysis on the Feasibility of Iris Recognition Performance for Infants 0-2 Years Old

The focus of this study was to longitudinally evaluate iris recognition for infants between the ages of 0 to 2 years old. Image quality metrics of infant and adult irises acquired on the same iris camera were compared. Matching performance was evaluated for four groups, infants 0 to 6 months, 7 to 12 months, 13 to 24 months, and adults. A mixed linear regression model was used to determine if infants’ genuine similarity scores changed over time. This study found that image quality metrics were different between infants and adults but in the older group, (13 to 24 months old) the image quality metric scores were more likely to be similar to adults. Infants 0 to 6 months old had worse performance at an FMR of 0.01% than infants 7 to 12 months, 13 to 24 months, and adults

On the Feasibility of Creating Double-Identity Fingerprints

A double-identity fingerprint is a fake fingerprint created by combining features from two different fingers, so that it has a high chance to be falsely matched with fingerprints from both fingers. This paper studies the feasibility of creating double-identity fingerprints by proposing two possible techniques and evaluating to what extent they may be used to fool the state-of-the-art fingerprint recognition systems. The results of systematic experiments suggest that existing algorithms are highly vulnerable to this specific attack (about 90% chance of success at FAR = 0.1%) and that the fingerprint patterns generated might be realistic enough to fool human examiners

A novel hand reconstruction approach and its application to vulnerability assessment

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Information Sciences. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Information Sciences, 238 (2014) DOI: 10.1016/j.ins.2013.06.015The present work proposes a novel probabilistic method to reconstruct a hand shape image from its template. We analyse the degree of similarity between the reconstructed images and the original samples in order to determine whether the synthetic hands are able to deceive hand recognition systems. This analysis is made through the estimation of the success chances of an attack carried out with the synthetic samples against an independent system. The experimental results show that there is a high chance of breaking a hand recognition system using this approach. Furthermore, since it is a probabilistic method, several synthetic images can be generated from each original sample, which increases the success chances of the attack.This work has been partially supported by projects Contexts (S2009/TIC-1485) from CAM, Bio-Challenge (TEC2009-11186), BIOSINT (TEC2012-38630-C04-02) and Bio-Shield (TEC2012-34881) from Spanish MINECO, TABULA RASA (FP7-ICT-257289) and BEAT (FP7-SEC-284989) from EU, and Cátedra UAM-Telefónica. Marta Gomez-Barrero is supported by a FPU Fellowship from Spanish MECD

Emerging biometric technologies for Automated Border Control gates

Automated Border Control (ABC) gates, or shortly e-Gates, are systems able to verify automatically the identity of the travelers through the biometric traits, and to grant passage of the border. Biometric technologies make the clearance automation possible, with a positive impact on efficiency, effectiveness, security, and usability of the process. The e-Gate compares biometric data of the traveler from an electronic document against live acquisitions, using different biometric traits. The face emerged in this area as the primary trait used by the e-Gates, with fingerprint and iris more adopted in registered traveler programs. This paper analyzes the main biometric aspects relating to both the human-machine interaction and the technologies used for ABC, and presents the emerging solutions that can produce a performance enhancement

Exploring Circular Hough Transforms for Detecting Hand Feature Points in Noisy Images from Ghost-Circle Patterns

acceptedVersio

Recent Application in Biometrics

In the recent years, a number of recognition and authentication systems based on biometric measurements have been proposed. Algorithms and sensors have been developed to acquire and process many different biometric traits. Moreover, the biometric technology is being used in novel ways, with potential commercial and practical implications to our daily activities. The key objective of the book is to provide a collection of comprehensive references on some recent theoretical development as well as novel applications in biometrics. The topics covered in this book reflect well both aspects of development. They include biometric sample quality, privacy preserving and cancellable biometrics, contactless biometrics, novel and unconventional biometrics, and the technical challenges in implementing the technology in portable devices. The book consists of 15 chapters. It is divided into four sections, namely, biometric applications on mobile platforms, cancelable biometrics, biometric encryption, and other applications. The book was reviewed by editors Dr. Jucheng Yang and Dr. Norman Poh. We deeply appreciate the efforts of our guest editors: Dr. Girija Chetty, Dr. Loris Nanni, Dr. Jianjiang Feng, Dr. Dongsun Park and Dr. Sook Yoon, as well as a number of anonymous reviewers