Iris recognition algorithms, especially with the
emergence of large-scale iris-based identification systems, must
be tested for speed and accuracy and evaluated with a wide
range of templates – large size, long-range, visible and different
origins. This paper presents the acquisition of eye-iris images
of dark-skinned subjects in Africa, a predominant case of verydark-
brown iris images, under near-infrared illumination. The
peculiarity of these iris images is highlighted from the
histogram and normal probability distribution of their
grayscale image entropy (GiE) values, in comparison to Asian
and Caucasian iris images. The acquisition of eye-images for
the African iris dataset is ongoing and will be made publiclyavailable
as soon as it is sufficiently populated
