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NTNU researchers have found a way to identify people
through finger vein recognition. This authentication
system shows promise as a more secure passport
control method.
Biometric screening — using biological
characteristics such as fingerprints, iris
recognition or facial features — is a high priority
for researchers who are working to develop future
security solutions.
Researchers at NTNU in Gjøvik have developed a
prototype for a sensor that can scan and record both
your fingerprint and the flow of blood in the veins
in your fingers. The sensor prototype is small and
easy to use, and has the potential to effect big
changes in airport safety and border crossings. It
will enable authentication to be both fast and
secure. Photo: Kenneth Kalsnes
The vascular pattern in your fingers is as unique to
you as a fingerprint. Finger vein recognition can be
used both to identify you and – by sensing your
blood flow pattern – prove that you are a real
living person.
Using a finger vein system will make it harder for
cheaters to use a false fingerprint to get past
security checks.
Authentication methods are made safer by increasing
the number of factors that are used to identify an
individual.
Authentication methods are made safer by increasing
the number of factors that are used to identify an
individual. Airports, for example, use a two-step
identification method of passport and fingerprints
to identify travellers.
Both face and fingerprint biometrics, however, are
relatively easy to fake — a rubber mask and a dummy
finger fitted with a copied fingerprint will do the
trick.
“Fake passports and masks can fool today’s
identification system; it’s easy and it happens,”
says NTNU associate professor Raghavendra
Ramachandra, who is affiliated with the Center for
Cyber and Information Security at NTNU’s Department
of Information Security and Communication Technology
in Gjøvik.
Ensuring that the biological feature – whether
fingerprint or face – is not a fake, is called
liveness detection in the language of the
profession.
Ramachandra and his colleagues have now developed a
sensor prototype that scans and detects both
fingerprints and blood flow in the finger veins.
But it’s tough to check multiple identifiers
manually, and moving queues along quickly when
checking several features at once is challenging
with existing methods.
Ramachandra is proposing a solution for this
problem.
“We envision a corridor where you don’t have to stop
and wait to identify yourself, but instead, you
swipe your finger across the sensor. The sensor
takes 80 frames per second, so it can quickly detect
and verify that the fingerprint and veins match and
that blood is flowing through the finger.
We’re developing algorithms to make the process
faster and more seamless,” says Ramachandra.
“Since the sensor also checks your finger for blood
flow, the chances of getting through with a fake
fingerprint are minimal.
Faking veins is very difficult,” he adds.
For more information
NTNU
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
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