The future of biometrics at The London Science Museum

24 Aug 07

There is no doubt that biometric technology is becoming a fact of life for many people. Whether applying for a visa, leaving a nightclub for a cigarette or simply trying to avoid Heathrow’s queues, there is an increasing willingness to share unique identifying information with private and public agencies.

Dominique Driver, a content developer at the Science Museum, said the “Please Identify Yourself!” exhibition was set-up for the general public to see how the technology works as it begins to have an effect upon their daily lives.

Recent technological advances have led to a host of new ways in which we can be identified, from vein-recognition to face readers. As a result the ‘traditional’ biometric solution, fingerprinting, has been pushed to the bottom of the pile and is now commonly used for high-volume, low-risk applications.

It seems strange then, that one of the country’s most promising biometric software development companies is at the Science Museum showing off its latest- you’ve guessed it- fingerprinting technology.

100 percent accuracy

University of Warwick spin-off firm Warwick Warp thinks its unique software-based fingerprint identification system is at the heart of our biometric future. The company, which won the 2005-06 Research Councils' Business Plan Competition, claims its technology is not only faster than other solutions on the market but substantially more reliable too.

Dr Li Wang, Warwick Warp’s Chief Technology Officer, said he is sure there is still plenty of life in fingerprinting, which was first used commercially in 1984. “We think fingerprinting still has a long way to go before it reaches its holy grail,” he said.

That holy grail for Dr Wang is 100 percent identification accuracy without the need for PIN numbers and smartcards.

The Warwick Warp system uses an unusual approach to tackling deformation and poor quality prints which are believed to be the major technical constraint for current systems in achieving 100 percent accuracy. Instead of analysing surface marks, the computer looks at the underlying ‘rich patterns’ in the fingers so that superficial cuts and bruises do not interfere with its effectiveness.

“Our technology also provides high speed and more importantly, our system’s accuracy and speed doesn't degrade when the size of database increases,” Dr Wang said.

One of the biggest tests for fingerprint readers of any kind is children as small fingers make it a lot harder for the software to define prints. A busy Science Museum in middle of the summer holidays then was an ideal place to test the accuracy of Warwick Warp’s products.

“We have tested 200 children over two days, with 100 percent accuracy,” said Dr Wang. “We hope to test a total of 400 and I am confident we can maintain 100 percent.”

Technology like Warwick Warp's could eventually be incorporated into identity cards (the first of which are set to be issued in 2009 under Labour’s controversial plans) and biometric passports. The Government believes that these e-documents will prove invaluable in combating crimes like identity theft, social security fraud and even terrorism.

However, Dr Wang does see the limitations of every biometric solution, including his own. “In order to achieve mass market, biometrics needs to improve its accuracy to a foolproof level,” he said.

Dr Wang, who has his sights set on the full commercial availability of his product within six months, added: “Reliability will effectively determine the market size and this exciting, fast growing market will remain hungry for new technology in the foreseeable future.”

Facial recognition

One such technology, facial recognition, is being used more and more, spurred on by the growth of the National Policing Improvement Agency’s Facial Images National Database (FIND).

Research and advanced technology company Omni Perception, whose recognition systems took part in recent FIND tests, were at the museum to demonstrate why they think the answer to identification lies in the face.

Omni’s Affinity face recognition system aims to provide fast and reliable authentication for physical and logical access control- and it certainly impressed crowds at the museum.

Using just a Logitech camera and a simple laptop interface, names and faces of budding scientists were quickly enrolled into the system. According to Omni Perception’s website, there is a zero percent failure rate at this stage. Later on participants could walk over, glance at the camera and within 0.7 seconds have their identity matched against a database. Both new and old images are displayed onscreen, alongside a score based on how ‘unique’ the match is.

The company said in tests the system demonstrated the ability to do the same with up to 50,000 unique images stored in its database, making it ideal for use in offices, stadiums, government buildings and hospitals.

The system is claimed to be future-proof, covering the five or ten year life of a passport by adjusting to facial variations over time. Omni Perception hopes that eventually its recognition technology could be used to authorise access on home computers and even PDAs, simply by an individual looking into a webcam. There is even a hope that facial recognition could be used in banks and for immigration controls, but this would almost certainly have to be in combination with a PIN number.

Using Omni Perception’s technology, end users can even set their own security thresholds based on these minimum match scores. In particularly sensitive areas, for example, the threshold can be set very high to protect against unauthorised access. But that is where the trouble starts with any biometric application.

Getting the balance right

Set the security thresholds too low, and imposters could walk into to a building or access critical documents. Too high, and genuine, authorised users are left frustrated by constant rejection and lock-outs.

The key to the success of any biometric solution, it seems, is integration. Facial recognition technology and fingerprinting will undoubtedly become more accurate as algorithms improve and money continues to be poured into research.

But will commercial operations be prepared to protect their businesses solely with biometrics whilst the technology can be made safer and more user-friendly by combining it with a smart card or PIN number?

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