Biometric Recognition: How Do I Know Who You Are?

Anil K. Jain
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Michigan State University
http://biometrics.cse.msu.edu
Abstract
A wide variety of systems reuire re!iab!e persona! recognition schemes to either confirm or
determine the identity of an individual reuesting their services. "he purpose of estab!ishing the
identity is to ensure that on!y a !egitimate user# and not anyone e!se# accesses the rendered services.
E$amp!es of such app!ications inc!ude secure access to bui!dings# airports# computer systems#
ce!!u!ar phones and A"M machines. %iometric recognition# or simp!y biometrics# refers to the
automatic recognition of individua!s based on their physio!ogica! and/or behaviora! characteristics.
%iometrics a!!ows us to confirm or estab!ish an individua!&s identity based on who she is# rather
than by what she possesses 'e.g.# an (D card) or what she knows 'e.g.# a password). Current
biometric systems ma*e use of identifiers such as fingerprints# hand geometry# iris# face and voice
to estab!ish an identity. %iometric systems a!so introduce an aspect of user convenience. +or
e$amp!e# they a!!eviate the need for a user to remember mu!tip!e passwords associated with
different app!ications. A biometric system that uses a sing!e biometric trait for recognition has to
contend with prob!ems re!ated to non,universa!ity of the trait# spoof attac*s# !imited degrees of
freedom# !arge intra,c!ass variabi!ity# and noisy data. Some of these prob!ems can be addressed by
integrating the evidence presented by mu!tip!e biometric traits of a user 'e.g.# face and iris). Such
systems# *nown as multimodal biometric systems# demonstrate substantia! improvement in
recognition performance. (n this ta!*# we wi!! present various app!ications of biometrics# cha!!enges
associated in designing fingerprint biometric systems# state,of,the,art performance# individua!ity of
biometric identifiers# and fusion strategies avai!ab!e to imp!ement a mu!timoda! biometric system.
Ani! -ain is a University Distinguished .rofessor in the Departments of Computer Science /
Engineering at Michigan State University. 0e was the Department Chair during 1223,22. 0is
research interests inc!ude statistica! pattern recognition# e$p!oratory pattern ana!ysis# te$ture
ana!ysis# document image ana!ysis and biometric authentication. Severa! of his papers have been
reprinted in edited vo!umes on image processing and pattern recognition. 0e received the best
paper awards in 1245 and 1221 from the .attern 6ecognition Society. 0e a!so received the 1227
(EEE "ransactions on 8eura! 8etwor*s 9utstanding .aper Award. 0e is a fe!!ow of the (EEE#
ACM# and (nternationa! Association of .attern 6ecognition. 0e has received a +u!bright 6esearch
Award# a -ohn Simon :uggenheim fe!!owship and an A!e$ander von 0umbo!dt 6esearch Award.
0e de!ivered the ;<<; .ierre Devi=ver !ecture sponsored by the (nternationa! Association of .attern
6ecognition. 0e ho!ds si$ patents in the area of fingerprint matching. 0e is the author of a number
of boo*s# inc!uding A!gorithms for C!ustering Data# .rentice,0a!! 1244# %(9ME"6(CS: .ersona!
(dentification in 8etwor*ed Society# >!uwer 1222# and 0andboo* of +ingerprint 6ecognition#
Springer ;<<? which received the ;<<? .S. Award from the Association of American .ub!ishers.
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