Biometric scanning gets cleaner and more accurate.
Automated fingerprint identification has been around for quite some time. Though the technology has been the gold standard for decades, it’s not without its problems. When a person presses or rolls his or her finger against the surface, occurence of slippage or poor placement can lead to partial or degraded prints.
With the Internet of Things raising everyone’s security concerns, biometric solutions for identity verification will only grow in prevalence (it’s probably already on your phone).
Sophisticated solutions are now using contactless technology to eliminate the inaccuracies that come with traditional fingerprint testing. Faster, more accurate tests mean that throughput is higher, which is particularly important for situations were many individuals must be identified in a row, as may be needed for employee or patient verifcation. Touchless fingerprint approaches have the added benefit of being more hygienic than traditional methods that require you to press your finger into the same surface as that person with the hacking cough.
Researchers with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University are working on low-cost, touchless 3D fingerprint identification for high-security applications, complete with automated recognition of surgically altered fingerprints. Bad news for… every spy movie ever.
