The idea of checking physical characteristics to
authenticate a person's identity has a long and distinguished
history.
Identification has been used to catch criminals for more than 100
years, thanks to breakthroughs in areas such as fingerprint and DNA
analysis.
Now identification using biometric data is creeping into IT
systems, with the creation of applications that use biometric
technologies such as iris and fingerprint recognition.
In the UK the Home Office has evaluated biometric systems, which
authenticate a user's identity by taking a reading, such as a
fingerprint, and comparing it to an original template, for use in
areas like passport control and entitlement cards. An iris
recognition system could be in place at UK airports by the middle
of next year.
However, there are still barriers to the widespread adoption of the
technology - barriers that a research team at Kent University aims
to overcome by developing more robust and reliable detection
systems.
"One of the key problems is that there is no single biometric
device that is reliable and accurate enough for all applications,
and not everyone recognises that," said Mike Fairhurst, a professor
in the university's department of electronics. "People need to be
more flexible in their approach."
Fairhurst's team has developed an "intelligent processing
framework" that uses bespoke software to centrally manage multiple
forms of biometrics, choosing the most appropriate for the job or
combining different forms to increase accuracy and
reliability.
One such project is Iambic (Intelligent Agent for Multimodal
Biometric Identification and Control), which is being run in
collaboration with technology developer Neusciences.
The team has created a demonstration Iambic system that uses a
laptop fitted with biometric sensors and a microphone as the
client, with a networked desktop PC acting as the server.
Users enrol using as many of the three biometrics - voice,
fingerprint and facial recognition - as they can and create a
template which is held on the client. On subsequent visits they
have to verify for each reading and are given a confidence rating
for each. The idea is that different thresholds would be set
according to the user and the application.
A key driver behind the project is that even the most accurate and
reliable biometrics suffer from problems of acceptability. Iris
recognition, for example, is fairly obtrusive as users have to
place their eye close to the reader. Users can find it tricky to
align themselves correctly. Worn fingers and the general likelihood
of smudged fingerprints can restrict the efficacy of fingerprint
recognition systems.
In its Iambic trials, the team found that users had difficulties
enrolling with the voice recognition component. People may also
have a disability or injury that prohibits them from using a
particular mode of biometrics.
"The performance figures when working with real people can surprise
you. Sometimes the devices are very good but people find it hard to
interact with them. A lot of work needs to be done to improve the
interface and make it more intuitive," said Fairhurst.
Another problem is impostors faking an identity, using techniques
such as high-tech contact lenses to mimic someone's iris reading,
showing a biometric reader a photograph or even chopping someone's
finger off to foil a fingerprint recognition system.
"As techniques become more sophisticated so do the
countermeasures," said Fairhurst.
Farzin Deravi, a member of the research team at the University of
Kent, said a more sophisticated system of enrolment is needed as
existing systems tend to assume users are who they claim to be. The
Kent team is looking at adding a smartcard reader to help validate
identity at the enrolment phase.
Despite all the barriers to adoption, Deravi predicts there will be
a creeping introduction of biometrics alongside other
technologies.
"The process has begun. We are quite confident that biometrics in
some shape or form will play a large part in people's lives in the
future," said Deravi. "It is inevitable - the future is biometric.
But you have to be realistic about biometrics. You have to steer a
way between the hype and the paranoia."
The Kent University research team is backed by British Trade
International, a government body set up to support the UK's trade
and investment strategy.
CV: Mike Fairhurst
Mike Fairhurst is a professor at Kent University's department of
electronics, where he has worked since 1972.
Fairhurst heads the computer vision and image processing research
team, which develops techniques for image recognition and the
analysis of image structure. His interests include image analysis,
handwriting analysis, biometric processing and neural
architectures.
Kent University has been conducting research into biometrics for
about five years and aims to become Europe's first centre of
excellence for biometrics and security.
Getting wired: tell us the future
Research work being undertaken at universities today will change
the way we use IT, and Computer Weekly is on a mission to showcase
their cutting-edge IT research. We would like to hear from
researchers who think they might have made a breakthrough. Each
week we will feature innovation in the field of IT, giving a
glimpse of how technology will evolve in the coming years.
Email:
cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk
What is BTI?
British Trade International is the government organisation set up
to support Britain's trade and investment strategy. It brings
together the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the
Department of Trade & Industry on trade development and
promotion of inward investment. BTI's two operating units are Trade
Partners UK, which aims to help UK companies trading overseas, and
Invest UK, which aims to promote the UK as an inward investment
location.
www.tradepartners.gov.uk
www.invest.uk.com