Biometric Systems provides practitioners with an overview of the principles and methods needed to build reliable biometric systems. It covers three main topics: key biometric technologies, design and management issues, and the performance evaluation of biometric systems for personal verification/identification. The four most widely used technologies are focused on - speech, fingerprint, iris and face recognition. Key features include: in-depth coverage of the technical and practical obstacles which are often neglected by application developers and system integrators and which result in shortfalls between expected and actual performance; and protocols and benchmarks which will allow developers to compare performance and track system improvements.

This book brings together aspects of statistics and machine learning to provide a comprehensive guide to evaluating, interpreting and understanding biometric data. It naturally leads to topics including data mining and prediction to be examined in detail. The book places an emphasis on the various performance measures available for biometric systems, what they mean, and when they should and should not be applied. The evaluation techniques are presented rigorously, however they are always accompanied by intuitive explanations. This is important for the increased acceptance of biometrics among non-technical decision makers, and ultimately the general public.

This book describes a range of new biometric technologies, such as high-resolution fingerprint, finger-knuckle-print, multi-spectral backhand, 3D fingerprint, tongueprint, 3D ear, and multi-spectral iris technologies. Further, it introduces readers to efficient feature extraction, matching and fusion algorithms, in addition to developing potential systems of its own. These advanced biometric technologies and methods are divided as follows: 1. High-Resolution Fingerprint Recognition; 2. Finger-Knuckle-Print Verification; 3. Other Hand-Based Biometrics; and 4. New Head-Based Biometrics. Traditional biometric technologies, such as fingerprint, face, iris, and palmprint, have been extensively studied and addressed in many research books. However, all of these technologies have their own advantages and disadvantages, and there is no single type of biometric technology that can be used for all applications. Many new biometric technologies have been developed in recent years, especia lly in response to new applications. The contributions gathered here focus on how to develop a new biometric technology based on the requirements of essential applications, and how to design efficient algorithms that yield better performance.

Biometrics is a rapidly evolving field with applications ranging from accessing one’s computer to gaining entry into a country. The deployment of large-scale biometric systems in both commercial and government applications has increased public awareness of this technology. Recent years have seen significant growth in biometric research resulting in the development of innovative sensors, new algorithms, enhanced test methodologies and novel applications. This book addresses this void by inviting some of the prominent researchers in Biometrics to contribute chapters describing the fundamentals as well as the latest innovations in their respective areas of expertise.