Fingerprints In The News
In the world of Biometrics, Fingerprint Recognition is deemed to be about the oldest technology out there-and rightfully so, fingerprints since almost the dawn of mankind, has always been associated with law enforcement.
Probably the only other Biometric Technology which can catch up with the allure of Fingerprint Recognition is Hand Geometry Recognition-which too, has been around for quite some time.
One would think that given the dominance of Fingerprint Recognition, just about all of the potential research and development in this area would have already been conceived right now, and there would not be too much innovation left in this field. But according to a news article I came across today, this logic is proved wrong once yet again:
There is more potential for growth here. Researchers at the University of Abertay, Dundee (located in Scotland) and the Scottish Police Services Authority (also known as the “SPSA”) are leading the path into new discoveries with regards to Fingerprint Recognition, specifically retrieving fingerprint images from clothing and fabric.
The technique they have come across is known as “Vacuum Metal Deposition”, or “VMD” for short. This uses the metals of gold and zinc to help retrieve the fingerprint images. It should be noted that VMD is already used to capture fingerprint images from smoother surfaces such as glass and various sorts of plastics.
The trick, though is to have the ability to get these images from a much rougher surface, such as a piece of fabric.
Here are the details into the specifics as to how all of this works: “The research uses fine layers of metals to display fingerprints people may have left on fabrics . . . [the] fabrics [are taken and], placed . . . in a vacuum chamber, then heated up gold [is used] to evaporate it and spread a fine film over the fabric . . . we then heat up zinc, which attaches to the gold where there are no fingerprint residues. This helps reveal the fingerprint -- where contact has been made we see the original fabric, where there was no contact we're left with the grey colour of the metal film . . . one way of explaining it is like a photographic negative, where colours show up as their opposites. Here the fingerprint ridges show through as clear fabric, but where there are no ridges we see the distinctive grey colour of the metal.” (SOURCE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131073141.htm).
Final Thoughts On Today’s Posting
Although I am far from being a materials science expert, I think this whole approach explained in layman’s terms comes down to this:
Heating up the two metals, one thin film of metal is then placed over another, and where there are traces of fingerprint images, you can see the original piece of fabric.
Obviously, from the standpoint of the various chemical reactions, it is a lot more complicated than that. This technique which was developed and being currently being explored, offers a number of strategic advantages and benefits, such as:
*A greater statistical probability of recreating an entire fingerprint image from a rough piece of material (apparently only 20% of the world’s population or so are deemed to be “good donors” of fingerprint images);
*This research and development is a great boon for the field of Criminal Forensics. For example, a criminal timeline can be assembled, an even provide evidence for the prosecuting attorney, if a victim was pushed or taken down, given the positioning of the reconstructed fingerprint images retrieved from the pieces of fabric;
*This technique provides another avenue to collect DNA evidence where otherwise it may not be present;
*Residual and broken fingerprint images which are reconstructed using the VMD technique described here can be used to provide supplementary evidence in a court of law, and increase the odds of a conviction (and more evidence means that the right person will be convicted-not a falsely accused one).
*Fingerprint images can be retrieved from a number of different kinds of fabrics, which include polyester, silk, and nylon.
So, what does all of this mean for Biometrics??? Well, there is one metric here which is very important, and that is known as the “Ability To Verify Rate”, or “ATR” for short.
This explains the percentage of a population which can be enrolled and verified into a Biometric System (it does not matter which one) successfully.
Looked at from the contra side, it also means that percentage of the population which cannot be enrolled into the Biometric System, given the fact that they have some physical ailment, not enough unique features, etc.
In fact, to a certain degree, it even surprises me that only 20% of the population has viable fingerprints which can be read and measured.
So, if this VMD technique can be incorporated into Fingerprint Recognition Technology, it will mean that the ATR rate will go up, and thus providing an even more solid and much more believable statistic in the eyes of the customer.
This is also a stronger selling point for the various Biometrics Vendors whose primary bread and butter is in selling Fingerprint Recognition devices.
But, since this technique is still in the research and development phase, it will probably be quite some time until my hypothesis if and when actually occurs.
Also, if this technique proves to be viable in the marketplace, it could also lead to further development in the area of Fingerprint Sensor Technology, which is currently dominated by optical technology.
So, although Fingerprint Recognition has been around the longest, don’t discount it in terms of further development, and new advances being made.
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