Fingerprint Scanning

Is Fingerprint Scanning The Best Authentication Alternative?

A person's fingerprint is naturally made of numerous valleys and ridges which are on the finger's surface. Minutiae points are formed by the endings of the ridges and bifurcations of the ridges where it splits. "Dots" are very tiny ridges and those that are slightly bigger and longer are "islands". "Lakes" or "ponds" are those spaces in between ridges and "spurs, crossovers and bridges" are other types of adjacent, protruding and crossing ridges.

Five patterns which are basic in fingerprints are the tented arch, right loop, left loop, arch and whorl. This shows that each fingerprint is very unique and is determined by the furrow and ridge patterns. Fingerprint images can be captured by technologies like ultrasound, optical and silicon.

Minutia matching is done to compare details that are specific in the ridges of the fingerprint. During registration or enrollment the minutia points along with their positions are located along with the directions. During the "matching" the image is automatically processed where the minutia points are compared with the template that is already registered.

"Pattern matching" in biometric fingerprinting compares the characteristics that are overall. This can also include areas that involve ridge thickness, density and curvature. During the registration and enrollment, small areas of the fingerprint image with relative distances are removed/extracted. Here, all areas that have unusual ridge combinations and radius of low curvature are of interest.

However efficient and effective fingerprint scanning is, it should be known that the fingertip is a very small area and the ridge patterns here can also be affected by dirt, cuts, and wear/tear. Thus, getting an image of high quality with distinct ridges and minutiae can be complicated.

People like surgeons and doctors who use strong detergents while washing their hands as well as people who have skin conditions would not be able to use this scanning system for obvious reasons.- they would have very few or no minutia points. If the number of fingerprint defining points gets smaller the certainty of verifying the identity of the person also declines. Partial and unclear fingerprints have been the cause of people being accused unjustly or wrongly.

One cannot deny the merits of using biometric fingerprint scanning:

• The system is every easy and convenient to use
• The device is not expensive but cheap
• The size is small
• It needs low power and is nonintrusive
• A large database is already available

The applications for this type of fingerprint biometrics are many. The sensors are best used for USB flash drives, cell phones, computers and notebooks and other similar applications where the size, cost and price are the key necessities. These systems are used for background search and law enforcement and job applicants, apart from welfare and healthcare.

Fingerprint scanners and other biometric systems are a great way of personal identification. This type of system is fast becoming an integral feature of man's everyday life. What makes this type of system more secure and reliable is the fact that physical characteristics and attributes are very difficult to fake whereas identity cards can be easily faked. Passwords can be easily forgotten where as a system like a fingerprint scanner that proves your identity and who you actually are does not need a password.

Both Capacitance Scanning as well as Optical Scanning is used to get a fingerprint image. Used in personal security and identification, access and crime investigation this software is well worth it.