3D biometric authentication based on finger veins almost impossible to
fool
Combining light and sound adds depth information that boosts security of biometric authentication

Date:
September 28, 2020
Source:
The Optical Society
Summary:
Biometric authentication, which uses unique anatomical features such
as fingerprints or facial features to verify a person's identity,
is increasingly replacing traditional passwords for accessing
everything from smartphones to law enforcement systems.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Biometric authentication, which uses unique anatomical features such
as fingerprints or facial features to verify a person's identity, is increasingly replacing traditional passwords for accessing everything
from smartphones to law enforcement systems. A newly developed approach
that uses 3D images of finger veins could greatly increase the security
of this type of authentication.


==========================================================================
"The 3D finger vein biometric authentication method we developed enables
levels of specificity and anti-spoofing that were not possible before,"
said Jun Xia, from University at Buffalo, The State University of New
York, research team leader. "Since no two people have exactly the same
3D vein pattern, faking a vein biometric authentication would require
creating an exact 3D replica of a person's finger veins, which is
basically not possible." In the Optical Society (OSA) journal Applied
Optics, the researchers describe their new approach, which represents
the first time that photoacoustic tomography has been used for 3D finger
vein biometric authentication. Tests of the method on people showed that
it can correctly accept or reject an identity 99 percent of the time.

"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many jobs and services are now performed remotely," said research team member Giovanni Milione, from NEC
Laboratories America, Inc. "Because our technique detects invisible
features in 3D, it could be used to enable better authentication
techniques to protect personnel data and sensitive documents." Adding
depth information Although other biometric authentication approaches based
on finger veins have been developed, they are all based on 2D images. The additional depth from a 3D image increases security by making it more
difficult to fake an identity and less likely that the technique will
accept the wrong person or reject the right one.



==========================================================================
To accomplish 3D biometric authentication using the veins in a person's fingers, the researchers turned to photoacoustic tomography, an imaging technique that combines light and sound. First, light from a laser is
used to illuminate the finger. If the light hits a vein, it creates
a sound much in the same way that a grill creates a "poof" sound when
it is first lit. The system then detects that sound with an ultrasound
detector and uses it to reconstruct a 3D image of the veins.

"It has been challenging to use photoacoustic tomography for 3D finger
vein biometric authentication because of the bulky imaging system,
small field of view and inconvenient positioning of the hand," said
Xia. "We addressed these issues in the new system design through a better combination of light and acoustic beams and custom-made transducers
to improve the imaging field of view." Designing a practical system To
better integrate light illumination and acoustic detection, the researcher fabricated a new light- and acoustic-beam combiner. They also designed
an imaging window that allows the hand to be naturally placed on the
platform, similar to a full-size fingerprint scanner. Another critical development was a new matching algorithm, developed by Wenyao Xu from
the Computer science and Engineering department that allows biometric identification and matching of features in 3D space.

The researchers tested their new system with 36 people by imaging their
four left and four right fingers. The tests showed that the approach was
not only feasible but also accurate, especially when multiple fingers
were used.

"We envision this technique being used in critical facilities, such
as banks and military bases, that require a high level of security,"
said Milione. "With further miniaturization 3D vein authentication could
also be used in personal electronics or be combined with 2D fingerprints
for two-factor authentication." The researchers are now working to
make the system even smaller and to reduce the imaging time to less
than one second. They note that it should be possible to implement the photoacoustic system in smartphones since ultrasound systems have already
been developed for use in smartphones. This could enable portable or
wearable systems that perform biometric authentication in real time.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by The_Optical_Society. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Ye Zhan, Aditya Singh Rathore, Giovanni Milione, Yuehang Wang,
Wenhan
Zheng, Wenyao Xu, Jun Xia. 3D finger vein biometric authentication
with photoacoustic tomography. Applied Optics, 2020; 59 (28):
8751 DOI: 10.1364/AO.400550 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200928152850.htm

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