Introduction:

Throughout recorded history mankind has created various tools from keys, locks, and nowadays PIN Numbers, Radio Frequency (RF) and Magnetic Swipe (MSR) cards though to surveillance cameras to keep their life and property safe. However the existing tools often still fail to provide complete security needs. Example – you may feel safe with a key to your apartment but how do you feel when you lose it? 

Another example - you have a PIN number appliance for your door. But what if the number is to be known to others? An RF card or an MSR card?  You are still exposed to its loss and its duplication.

And you have a surveillance camera for your home security. But that does little to identify the intruder in dark clothes, wearing sunglasses, a sports cap or a balaclava.
 
To get rid of all these risks, we need a much safer and securer system to provide access control to our property, office or high security areas.

The answer is acknowledged globally to be ‘Biometric Identification Systems’. These can be based on a range of parts or functions of the human body, but typically involve:-

• Finger print authentication
• Facial Recognition
• Voice recognition
• Hand imaging
• Iris Recognition

Iris Recognition and Authentication Systems are internationally recognized as being by far the safest and securest biometric technique amongst other biometric forms and existing security devices.

So what is ‘Iris Recognition’???

Some interesting facts:-

• The ‘Iris’ is unique to each person- even “identical twins” have different iris patterns;
• Counterfeiting is impossible- the eye dilates if removed making authentication impossible;
• The Iris has 266 ‘descriminators compared to approximately 35 with fingerprints;
• The Iris patterns stable throughout ones life from the age of 18 months onwards; and
• Iris recognition is internationally recognized as the most accurate biometric identifier.

Some advantages:-

• It can not be made available to unauthorized person’s abuse or duplication;
• You don’t need to remember a PIN;
• You don’t need to carry anything with you; and
• Encrypted Iris Data can form secondary check to bank smart card or access swipe card.  

As stated, iris recognition is the most accurate, cost-effective and user-friendly identification technology in existence. It is highly scalable, non-invasive, and extremely stable. Iris recognition offers state-of-the-art identification, capable of replacing ID carry tokens, PINs and passwords.

The original algorithms to map the uniqueness of the iris section of the eye were pioneered by Professor John Daugman of Cambridge University England.  His process is scientifically proven, user safe and operationally reliable. The heart of Professor Daughman’s algorithm on iris recognition and the subsequent technology and software comprised a system that:

- Acquires an image of the eye, which includes the iris;
- Defines the boundaries of the iris;
- Establishes a coordinate system over the iris;
- Defines the zones for analysis within the coordinate system;
- Analyzes image data;
- Generates a 512-byte code; and
- Encrypts and stores the code.

The unique ‘Iris Code’, is developed from the digitized image of the portion of the iris. This image of the iris is then divided into various zones for later analysis. The data within each zone is then converted through the complex mathematical algorithms and subsequently implemented by the software. When an eye is presented, the 512-byte code is generated, held in the system as unique identifiers and stored for later use and subsequent reference and comparison.  The two comparison applications are:

• comparison with a single code (verification) or
• comparison with all codes in a database (recognition)

It is a proven fact that no two irises are identical.  This holds true from the right eye to the left eye in an individual or even between identical twins. The enormous array of detail in the iris, its sheer variability, its lack of genetic repeatability and the ease of viewing the iris photographically for data imaging, all prove the iris to be the ultimate personal identifier.

A standard system of Iris recognition involves five typical stages:
 

• the iris image photographic acquisition and subsequent digitization;
• the software application which develops a unique code for each iris;
• a computer platform which can execute the iris recognition software;
• a system of graphically displaying information for initial enrollment;
• a system of graphically displaying information for user recognition; and
• a system that the allows access once correct verification has occurred.