Iris Recognition vs. Fingerprint

 

 VS

 

Overview

Fingerprint technology has been widely accepted — primarily due to its historical
use within the law enforcement community, and the existence of the AFIS database.
Fingerprint readers are not ideally suited to handle the large variation of populations
that need to be enrolled. “Outliers,” or those in the population that deviate from the
mean, can be an inherent barrier to enrollment or recognition.
In large-scale deployments it takes many minutes, not seconds, to conduct a
single search and a search may require ancillary data (such as age, sex, etc.)
to partition the database for more speed. Further, multiple candidate matches may
be returned. A back up identification method is often needed to handle the resolution
of these multiple matches.
In a high volume, high speed environment, fingerprints do not have the accuracy,
reliability or ability to handle large, diverse populations as is needed for critical
transportation applications such as border control, Simplified Passenger Travel
(SPT) or restricted access. For these reasons, the best use of fingerprint technology
within the transportation industry may be background checks.


Strengths of Fingerprints
 
• Widely accepted by civil law enforcement and forensic government applications
(the AFIS database); as such, fingerprints are excellent for background checks.

• Can provide a relatively low false rejection rate and false acceptance rate when
used in populations with a low incidence of “outliers” (however, large groups or
groups of varied by race and gender are an issue).

• Wide range of vendors and solutions.

• Ability to enroll multiple fingers.


Weaknesses of Fingerprints

• Fingerprint is not as accurate as iris recognition —

• Fingerprint false accept rate varies by vendor, and is approximately 1 in
100,000. Iris recognition false accept rate is 1 in 1.2 million statistically.

• Most high-end fingerprint systems measure approximately 40-60
characteristics; iris recognition looks at about 240 characteristics to
create the unique Iris Code®.

• Iris recognition can perform 1: all matches in a high speed environment,
whereas fingerprint searches take much longer, may require filtering, and
may return multiple candidate matches.

• The long association of fingerprints with criminals makes this biometric an
uncomfortable method of authentication for some people.

• Most systems require physical contact with a scanner device that needs to
be kept clean (hygiene issue).

• The large number of players (different algorithms) means no fingerprint
standards exist. Iris recognition has one core standard, which is flexible and
open to all partners, and has been the foundation for Oki, Panasonic and LG
hardware solutions.

• Based on occupation, trauma or disease, individual fingerprints may be obscured,
damaged or changed — meaning some people may need to enroll multiple times
over the course of their lives.

• Fingerprint readability also may be affected by the work an individual does.
For example, transportation workers such as mechanics, food workers, or
maintenance workers may present fingerprints that are difficult to read due
to dryness or the presence of foreign substances, such as oil or dirt, on fingers.


Strengths of Iris Recognition

• Proven highest accuracy: iris recognition had no false matches in over two
million cross-comparisons, according to Biometric Product Testing Final Report
(19 March 2001, Center for Mathematics and Scientific Computing, National
Physics Laboratory, U.K.).

• Ability to handle very large populations at high speed: Iris Code® databases
can handle very large 1: all searches within extremely large databases.

• Convenient: all a person needs to do is look into a camera for a few seconds.
A video image is taken which is non-invasive and inherently safe.

• The iris itself is stable throughout a person’s life (approximately from the age
of one); the physical characteristics of the iris don't change with age.

• Total Cost of Ownership: iris recognition carries extremely low maintenance
costs and offers seamless interoperability between different hardware vendors;
the technology also has the ability to work well with other applications.

reference:

<http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-iris-scans-work.html>