Iris Recognition vs. Hand Geometry

 
VS


Overview

Hand Geometry gained some acceptance in the mid-1990’s as one of the first
biometrics — performing a variety of functions including access control, employee
time and attendance and point of sale applications. While it is fairly easy to use,
it is also rather expensive, and requires large, bulky equipment which can limit
the application.
Hand geometry carries other challenges as well. Factors such as weather,
temperature and medical conditions affect hand size. Hand size and geometry
varies greatly over time, which is especially obvious in the very young and very
old. Template updates are required to stay current. Readers cannot accommodate
extreme sizes. These challenges make hand geometry unsuitable for the high
volume, large population applications of the transportation industry.


Strengths of Hand Geometry• Currently being used for functions such as access control, employee time
recording and point of sale applications.

• Fairly easy to use.

• Reasonably high acceptance among users, and it is opt-in.

• Works in challenging environments.



Weaknesses of Hand Geometry

• Does not support 1: all matching with large databases.

• Weather, temperature and medical conditions such as pregnancy or certain
medications can affect hand size.

• Hand size and geometry changes over time, especially in the very young and
the very old.

• People are reluctant to place hand where many others have touched (hygiene issue).

• Extreme sizes are not accommodated in all hand readers.

• Fairly expensive and large equipment is required.



Strengths of Iris Recognition

• Hands-free operation.

• 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.

reference:

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