Fingerprint Recognition – Extreme Populations

This research focuses on the data collection of “extreme populations”, that may not be available to all researchers. Two examples are the elderly and those that have illnesses that can affect a biometric trait either through the illness or treatment. The reason for this research is simple: for biometrics to become pervasive in society, we need to understand the performance of biometrics across all segments of society, not just those that are easy to collect.

So the challenges are several, and are multidisciplinary in nature. For example, as we get older, our biometric traits may change over time. A study conducted by researchers of BSPA in 2003-2004 examined fingerprint image quality over two different populations (18-25 year olds and greater than 65). Further research is being undertaken to understand the impact of diverse age groups and other challenging populations on fingerprint recognition.