Infrared imaging of hand vein patterns for biometric purposes

Author(s)
Wang, Lingyu
Leedham, Graham
Cho, S-Y
Publication Date
2007
Abstract
A novel non-invasive imaging technique to image the vein patterns in various parts of the hand for biometric purposes is evaluated. Two imaging methods are investigated: far-infrared (FIR) thermography and near-infrared (NIR) imaging. Experiments involving data acquisition from various parts of the hand, including the back of the hand, palm and wrist, were carried out using both imaging techniques. Analysis of the data collected shows that FIR thermography is less successful at capturing veins in the palm and wrist. FIR thermography can capture the large veins in the back of the hand, but it is sensitive to ambient temperature and humidity conditions as well as human body temperature. NIR imaging produces good quality images when capturing veins in the back of the hand, palm and wrist. NIR imaging is also more tolerant to changes in the environment and body condition but faces the problem of pattern corruption because of visible skin features being mistaken for veins. This corruption is not present in FIR imaging. An initial biometric system is investigated to test both FIR and NIR images for biometric purposes. The results show all the subjects were correctly identified, which indicates vein pattern biometrics with infrared imaging is a potentially useful biometric.
Citation
IET Computer Vision, 1(3-4), p. 113-122
ISSN
1751-9640
1751-9632
Link
Publisher
The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Title
Infrared imaging of hand vein patterns for biometric purposes
Type of document
Journal Article
Entity Type
Publication

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