Dr. Bon Sy teaches biometrics as an adjunct professor at Polytechnic Institute of New York University. He is both an expert on the subject and a follower of advances in biometric technology in his own time. Increasingly, scientists are experimenting with sophisticated biometric security methods that go much farther than fingerprints and facial recognition. Below are some of the exciting recent innovations in biometric security.
1. Whole-body biometrics: One of the chief concerns of biometrics research is how to make more effective security models that are also less and less invasive for people. To this end, scientists have been studying the human body in its entirety to learn about each thing that sets us apart from each other. There have been promising results that suggest that each person's gait is unique, and could be used in combination with facial recognition to help verify identity.
2. Saccades: The word saccades is actually the technical term for the tiny, involuntary eye movements every person makes. Surprisingly, researchers in Finland have discovered that a person's saccades are as unique as that person's fingerprint or iris, and have set about developing a scanner that reads those movements to help verify identity. The method would likely take between 30 and 40 seconds per scan.
3. Smarter computers: Biometrics are only as useful as the computer systems designed to analyze them and pass final judgment. Scientists are working to develop a system that uses a process similar to the way the human brain thinks in order to verify identity. By examining several different metrics at once and combining them, the system will ideally be able to learn and adapt over time, automatically compensating for superficial changes in appearance.
2. Dr. Bon Sy teaches biometrics as an adjunct
professor at Polytechnic Institute of New
York University. He is both an expert on the
subject and a follower of advances in
biometric technology in his own time.
Increasingly, scientists are experimenting
with sophisticated biometric security
methods that go much farther than
fingerprints and facial recognition. Below
are some of the exciting recent innovations
in biometric security.
3. 1. Whole-body biometrics: One of the chief concerns of
biometrics research is how to make more effective
security models that are also less and less invasive for
people. To this end, scientists have been studying the
human body in its entirety to learn about each thing
that sets us apart from each other. There have been
promising results that suggest that each person's gait is
unique, and could be used in combination with facial
recognition to help verify identity.
2. Saccades: The word saccades is actually the
technical term for the tiny, involuntary eye movements
every person makes. Surprisingly, researchers in Finland
have discovered that a person's saccades are as
unique as that person's fingerprint or iris, and have set
about developing a scanner that reads those
movements to help verify identity. The method would
likely take between 30 and 40 seconds per scan.
4. 3. Smarter computers: Biometrics are only as
useful as the computer systems designed to
analyze them and pass final judgment.
Scientists are working to develop a system
that uses a process similar to the way the
human brain thinks in order to verify identity.
By examining several different metrics at
once and combining them, the system will
ideally be able to learn and adapt over
time, automatically compensating for
superficial changes in appearance.
