Iris Recognition vs. Facial Recognition

 
VS
 

Overview

Facial recognition technology has gained publicity post 9-11 for its ability to “scan”
large crowds and populations (random travelers in airports, those attending public
events such as the Super Bowl, etc.) As such, it can be useful as a non-invasive
attempt to “pick out” those who might fit a similar description within a database,
making it a good “surveillance” technology.
However, facial recognition is relatively easy to fool. Age, facial hair, surgery, head
coverings, and masks all affect results. For this reason, it will most likely remain
a surveillance tool instead of a baseline identifier, and will not be used for critical
1: all match applications such as border control, Simplified Passenger Travel (SPT)
or restricted access.


Strengths of Facial Recognition

• Effective for surveillance applications:

• Provides a first level “scan” within an extremely large, low-security situation.

• Easy to deploy, can use standard CCTV hardware integrated with face
recognition software.

• Passive technology, does not require user cooperation and works from a distance.

• May be able to use high quality images in an existing database.


Weaknesses of Facial Recognition

• Lighting, age, glasses, and head/face coverings all impact false reject rates.

• Even in surveillance applications, lower accuracy results in multiple candidate
returns in large populations. As a result, secondary processing is required for
surveillance operations.

• Privacy concerns: people do not always know when their picture/image is being
taken and being searched in a database — or worse, being enrolled in a database.
Can be used without explicit opt-in permission.


Strengths of Iris Recognition

• Opt-in: subjects agree to enroll and participate, reducing privacy concerns.

• 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>