20-08-2013, 04:27 PM
Near- and Far- Infrared Imaging for Vein Pattern Biometrics
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates two infrared imaging technologies, far-infrared thermog-
raphy and near-infrared imaging, to acquire hand vein pattern images for biometric
purposes. The imaging principles for both technologies are studied in depth. Ex-
periments involving data acquisition from various parts of hand, including the back
of the hand, palm, and wrist are described using a population of 150 participants
using both near and far infrared imaging techniques. Comparison and analysis of
the data collected show that far-infrared thermography has difficulties in capturing
vein images in the palm, and wrist. However, while it is more suitable for capturing
the large veins in the back of the hand, it is sensitive to ambient conditions and
human body condition and does not provide a stable image quality. On the other
hand, near-infrared imaging produces good quality images when capturing vein
patterns in the back of the hand, palm, and wrist. It is more tolerant to changes
in environmental and body condition, but it also faces the problem of disruption
due to skin features such as hairs and line patterns. An initial vein pattern bio-
metric system is implemented. The results show that all the test subjects can be
correctly identified.