FINGER PRINT AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM

industry is seeing large market growth. Like most technical fields, the biometrics
and - its associated systems have a multitude of definitions. The biometric system
may be defined as "automated methods of verifying or recognising a living person
on the basis of some physiological characteristics, such as fingerprint or iris
patterns or some aspects of behaviour, such as handwriting or keystore patterns".
This definition has a physiological and behavioural aspect. The differences
between using physiological and behavioural identifiers are quite significant,
especially when considering accuracy, cost and acceptance by a user.
Biometric systems fall within two broad categories:- physiological and
behavioural. Physiological characteristics are stable physical features, such as
fingerprint, hand structure, retinal or iris pattern, or facial feature. They are
generally unchangeable except by surgery or accident, and are constant over time.
In contrast, behavioural characteristics reflect an individuals psychological state
and thus are affected by such factors as stress, fatigue and illness (colds included).
Most behavioural characteristics alter over time. Eg.the voice print from a user
with laryngitis can seriously confuse a voice based access control system. Hence,
systems designed to measure such characteristics often need to redefine there
reference templates to reflect these changes.
Fingerprinting has been selected as it is the least invasive biometric system. The
fingerprint scanning is classified as a physiological system. The human fingerprint
is unique identifier that is intrinsically linked to each individual and thus cannot be
lost, stolen or transferred between individuals.. Moreover, no two fingerprints are
identical, which greatly assists in linking the user's access key to the user.
The project thus focuses mainly on the fingerprint capturing and authentication
processes.
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1.1 NECESSITY
Security is becoming increasingly important in many facets of society, ranging
from military, corporate world and personal lives. One area of technology that is
seeing growth is that of biometric authentication where a user is granted access to a
piece of data, room etc. Via some form of biometric authentication. This market
saw revenues of approximately US $ 3.01 billion in 2007 and is projected to reach
US $ 7.41 billion in 2012:fingerprint authentication is expected to reach US $400
million by 2010.
The application of the biometrics(precise!y the fingerprinting scanning system)has
been and will be continued to be used as a valuable asset to counter the tasks of
security, particularly the authentication/verification processes. In addition to the
reasons provided above,there is a greater emphasis on e-business system, with
these applications being developed for distributed deployment and a diverse range
of stakeholders.
This need for securing data and places effectively, coupled with the project market
growth of the biometric industry, led us into a project where we created a system
that uses the individual's fingerprint as a characteristic for the biometric
authentication so that the person can have the required access to a sensitive subject.