Researchers from the University of Kentucky have developed a new way to utilize fingerprints for biometric authentication that expects to make identification via the prints easier and more reliable, according to a Technology Review article.
Among some of the new breakthroughs incorporated into the new technology is the ability to create a three-dimensional model of the fingerprint and obtain the fingerprint without contact with the scanner.
The new technology operates by taking a series of 1.4 megapixel pictures of the finger via projected striped lines onto the finger. The result is a three-dimensional picture of the ridges on the finger that, according to the researchers, is a vastly more authentic representation of the finger, as traditional methods require the finger being pressed into the scanner often resulting in a distorted image of the print.
Officials from FlashScan3D, the company commercializing the Kentucky researchers’ technology, expect the new systems to be popular with border control. This is due to each agent being budgeted for 32 seconds per identification, which can be a difficult amount of time with flatbed-like scanners where poor samples can hamper time, spent collecting. Additionally, the device is capable of producing images at twice the resolution required for the FBI’s Automatic Fingerprint Identification System.
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