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TECHNOLOGY
- November 2005 by Eddie Sheridan Caught Red-Handed (and Fast) Thanks to funding secured by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers from the Department of Homeland Security, UK has invested $4.91 million in security and identification advancements that were once just the stuff of sci-fi movies and spy novels. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) “is really excited about this,” said Laurence Hassebrook, an associate professor in UK’s department of electrical and computer engineering who has been closely involved with the development of advanced fingerprint scanning systems. “We were one of the first university groups invited out to talk with them.” While taking someone’s fingerprint may sound like an easy and relatively foolproof process, several variables often taint the results. Excessively dry or moist skin, for example, can prevent the capture of a good image. Trained fingerprint technicians can spend valuable time manipulating their subjects’ digits for an end result that’s far from perfect. Researchers at UK are betting good scanning systems can eliminate the hassle. “When DOJ invited us to present our proposed system to their panel of experts, we noted that we were not fingerprint experts but that this was a machine vision problem, and our expertise in this area makes us uniquely qualified to develop a scanner for their needs,” said Dr. Dan Lau, a faculty member of UK’s Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments who said the fingerprinting system would eventually enable the human hand to be used for port access in high-security situations. With a scanning system, Hassebrook said, 3-D images are instantly captured and available for review. Such a quick data collection option, he said, could be used for everything from extra security in obtaining a driver’s license to identifying bodies in natural disasters, such as those left in Hurricane Katrina’s wake in the Gulf Coast. “Suppose I want to scan each and every passenger of a commercial airliner as they approach the terminal gate,” Lau said. “The only way to get fingerprint scanning into an airline facility is if I can guarantee an accurate finger/palm print scan with zero effort on the part of the passenger, as well as the security operator.” Here’s how it all works: A computer reads the shape and texture of a finger or face by flashing it with a special light as, say, the subject walks by or just waves a hand in front of a scanner. The idea is that it all would be quick and effortless. “We’re pretty much ahead of everybody else,” Hassebrook said of the face-scanning technology. “We can scan people’s faces in real time as they’re walking down the hall.” For now, Hassebrook said, subjects whose faces are being scanned can still detect light coming at them as they are being recorded. In the future, though, even that small hurdle may be eliminated. “We’ll go to infrared, so they won’t even see the light being projected,” he said. Eddie Sheridan is a staff writer for The Lane Report
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Non-contact, real-time fingerprint scanning systems. Wide-area rapid iris image capture with pan-tilt zoom cameras. Three-dimensional face recognition. Sound like something out of a new Tom Clancy novel? In reality, these cutting-edge technologies exist today, and they’re being perfected at the University of Kentucky.