Understanding Iris Recognition

Iris scan biometrics employs the unique characteristics and features of the human iris in order to verify the identity of an individual. The iris is the area of the eye where the pigmented or coloured circle, usually brown or blue, rings the dark pupil of the eye.

The iris-scan process begins with a photograph. A specialized camera, typically very close to the subject, no more than three feet, uses an infrared imager to illuminate the eye and capture a very high-resolution photograph. This process takes only one to two seconds and provides the details of the iris that are mapped, recorded and stored for future matching/verification.

Eyeglasses and contact lenses present no problems to the quality of the image and the iris-scan systems test for a live eye by checking for the normal continuous fluctuation in pupil size.

The inner edge of the iris is located by an iris-scan algorithm which maps the iris’ distinct patterns and characteristics. An algorithm is a series of directives that tell a biometric system how to interpret a specific problem. Algorithms have a number of steps and are used by the biometric system to determine if a biometric sample and record is a match.

Iris’ are composed before birth and, except in the event of an injury to the eyeball, remain unchanged throughout an individual’s lifetime. Iris patterns are extremely complex, carry an astonishing amount of information and have over 200 unique spots. The fact that an individual’s right and left eyes are different and that patterns are easy to capture, establishes iris-scan technology as one of the biometrics that is very resistant to false matching and fraud.

The false acceptance rate for iris recognition systems is 1 in 1.2 million, statistically better than the average fingerprint recognition system. The real benefit is in the false-rejection rate, a measure of authenticated users who are rejected. Fingerprint scanners have a 3 percent false-rejection rate, whereas iris scanning systems boast ratees at the 0 percent level.

Iris-scan technology has been piloted in ATM environments in England, the US, Japan and Germany since as early as 1997. In these pilots the customer’s iris data became the verification tool for access to the bank account, thereby eliminating the need for the customer to enter a PIN number or password. When the customer presented their eyeball to the ATM machine and the identity verification was positive, access was allowed to the bank account. These applications were very successful and eliminated the concern over forgotten or stolen passwords and received tremendously high customer approval ratings.

Airports have begun to use iris-scanning for such diverse functions as employee identification/verification for movement through secure areas and allowing registered frequent airline passengers a system that enables fast and easy identity verification in order to expedite their path through passport control.

Other applications include monitoring prison transfers and releases, as well as projects designed to authenticate on-line purchasing, on-line banking, on-line voting and on-line stock trading to name just a few. Iris-scan offers a high level of user security, privacy and general peace of mind for the consumer.

A highly accurate technology such as iris-scan has vast appeal because the inherent argument for any biometric is, of course, increased security.

back