What are these devices and what do they do?

Biometric devices are used to electronically verify the identity of individuals or recognize them using various biological traits. Using these devices, we can use our fingerprints, handprints or voices to gain access to computers, rooms, online accounts etc. We can use ID cards or passwords for personal identification but both these methods are susceptible to being lost or stolen. Biometric devices use physiological or behavioral traits in humans which are unique to them and therefore serve as a great measure for identity recognition or verification. This blog will discuss the purpose and usefulness of biometric devices that use retina and iris scanning to identify people. This technology functions on the basis of enrollment and testing. First aperson enrolls his/her biometric information (a digital image of the scanned eye) which is stored by the device for later comparison. Then later on when they provide their retinal scan to gain access to a restricted area/workstation, the scanned image of their retina is compared to what was previously stored on the machine. If there is a match then they are granted access, if not then they are rejected. Iris/retina scanning is an effective way to recognize or verify the identity of an individual since no two iris patterns are alike, in fact, studies show that the probability of two fingerprints being alike is higher than that of two iris patterns being alike.




References:
Global Security - Biometrics Overview
Encarta Encyclopedia: Biometrics
BioVeriCom - Retina Biometric