IRIS SCANNING

ABSTRACT
In today's information age it is not difficult to collect data about an individual and use that
information to exercise control over the individual. Individuals generally do not want others to
have ersonal information about them unless they decide to reveal it. !ith the raid develoment
of technology" it is more difficult to maintain the levels of rivacy citi#ens $new in the ast.
Conventional methods of identification based on ossession of I% cards or exclusive $nowledge
li$e social security number or a assword are not altogether reliable.
&iometric technology has now become a viable alternative to traditional identification systems
because of its tremendous accuracy and seed.
Since the ersons to be identified should be hysically resent at the oint of identification"
biometric techni'ues gives high security for the sensitive information stored in mainframes or to
avoid fraudulent use of A()s.
&iometric devices have three rimary comonents.
*. Automated mechanism that scans and catures a digital or analog image of a living ersonal
characteristic
+. Comression" rocessing" storage and comarison of image with a stored data.
,. Interfaces with alication systems.
A biometric system can be divided into two stages- the enrolment module and the identification
module. (he enrolment module is resonsible for training the system to identity a given erson.
(he identification module is resonsible for recogni#ing the erson.
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IRIS SCANNING
CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 WHAT IS IRIS?
Fig1.1- Human Iris
(he colored art of the eye with a hole .uil/ in the center. It regulates the amount of light
entering the eye 0 the dimmer the lighting" the more light the iris lets into the eye by widening
the uil.
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IRIS SCANNING
Iris is the visible coloured tissue of the eye located in the front. It is laced below the cornea and
is rotected by cornea. Iris tissue is comlex" fibrous and elastic and nature. It has distinguishing
features li$e ridges" furrows" arching ligaments" cryts" rings" corona" frec$les and #ig#ag
collarets. (hese minutiae rovide a uni'ue attern often referred as trabecular meshwor$. (he
attern is visible under normal light also" even if secial 1near infrared light2 is used for very
dar$ eyes. It is suorted by two muscles" shincter and dilator" and controls the amount of light
entering the human eye by controlling the si#e of the uil. Iris" in human beings starts forming
during the third month of gestation and is comlete by the eighth month. 3nder normal
circumstances it remains stable throughout the life san" barring some of the diseases. (he iris
attern for each human can be safely termed as uni'ue as the robability of finding a similar iris
attern is rare. (he iris atterns are different for the mono#ygotic .identical/ twins also and are
even different for both eyes of the same erson.
1.2 IRIS SCANNING
Iris scanning is a method of biometric authentication that uses attern recognition techni'ues
based on high4resolution images of the irides of an individual's eyes. Not to be confused with
another less revalent ocular4based technology" retina scanning" iris recognition uses camera
technology" and subtle IR illumination to reduce secular reflection from the convex cornea to
create images of the detail4rich" intricate structures of the iris. (hese uni'ue structures converted
into digital temlates" rovide mathematical reresentations of the iris that yield unambiguous
ositive identification of an individual.
Iris recognition efficacy is rarely imeded by glasses or contact lenses. Iris technology has the
smallest outlier .those who cannot use5enroll/ grou of all biometric technologies. (he only
biometric authentication technology designed for use in a one4to many search environment" a $ey
advantage of iris recognition is its stability" or temlate longevity as" barring trauma" a single
enrollment can last a lifetime.
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IRIS SCANNING
1.3 HISTORY OF IRIS SCANNING
&rea$through wor$ to create the iris recognition algorithms re'uired for image ac'uisition and
one4to4many matching was ioneered by 6ohn G. %augman" 7h%" 8&9 .3niversity of
Cambridge Comuter :aboratory/" who holds $ey atents on the method. (hese were utili#ed to
effectively debut commerciali#ation of the technology in con;unction with an early version of the
Iris Access system designed and manufactured by <orea's :G 9lectronics. %augman's algorithms
are the basis of almost all currently .as of +==>/ commercially deloyed iris4recognition systems.
It has a so far unmatched ractical false4accet rate of #ero? that there is no $nown air of images
of two different irises that the %augman algorithm in its deloyed configuration mista$enly
identifies as the same" the Iris Code false4re;ect rates are comarable to the most accurate single4
finger fingerrint matchers
7atented in late *@A=s" iris scans' first use was to identify risoners in a 7ennsylvania rison.
(hey have begun to be instituted to identify Bthe good guysB at international airorts" where
fre'uently flying assengers are allowed to use iris scanning technology to move more
'uic$ly through security chec$oints. Charlotte5%ouglas International Airort in North
Carolina? the Clughafen Cran$furth Airort in Germany? and :ondon's Deathrow airort"
among others" use iris scanning technology for this urose.
In +==E" Re. Robert Andrews .%4N6/ introduced the Iris Security Scan Security Act of +==E"
intended to give States grants to use iris scan records of convicted criminals for various uroses.
CHAPTER-2
OPERATING PRINCIPLE
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IRIS SCANNING
An iris FscanG is a high4'uality hotograh of the iris ta$en under near4infrared .near4IR/
illumination. (hough visible light can also be used to illuminate the eye" dar$ly igmented irises
reveal more attern comlexity under near4IR light. Iris recognition systems generally use
narrow4angle cameras and as$ the user to osition their eyes correctly in the cameraGs field of
view. (he resulting hotograh is analysed using algorithms to locate the iris and extract feature
information" in order to create a biometric temlate or FIrisCodeG.
2.1ACQUIRE SAMPLE
(he image of the iris is catured from a distance of *=4+=cm .non4invasively/ by a high4
resolution camera which first focuses aroriately given the distance of the target" discounts
reflections from glasses and ac'uires a digital hoto of the iris.
Hariations in uil si#e do not interfere with the randomness or uni'ueness of iris atterns.
)oreover" natural variations can be used as a means to confirm that the iris scanned is a real one.
8ther characteristics of the eye may render scanning difficult- for examle the iris is often
obscured by the eyelids .which may droo due to ageing or other factors/" the eyelashes" lenses
and eyeglasses. Curthermore" even in the absence of these obstacles" the whole rocess of
ac'uiring an image of the iris for recognition uroses re'uires high4recision cameras since the
iris is a relatively small .I* cm/" moving target" located behind a curved" wet" reflecting surface.
(wo more oints to consider here are .a/ using near infrared wavelength cameras as in this
wavelength even dar$ brown coloured irises reveal their atterns well while with visible light
cameras the result would have been deendent on the iris colour" and .b/ user accetance seems
to be lower than with other biometrics as users feel a sense of discomfort during the enrolment
rocess mainly due to the fact that it is not clear where to focus.
(he following attentions have to be ta$en at the time of grabbing the image
Digh resolution and good sharness- It is necessary for the accurate detection of outer and
inner circle boundaries
Good lighting condition- (he system of diffused light is used to revent sotlight effect
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IRIS SCANNING
Fig2.1- Image acquisition System (a) System with frame grabber (b) CCD Camera (c) Light Source (d) User
2.2EXTRACTING FEATURES
(he first tas$ in feature extraction is to determine the location of the iris in the icture. (his is
done by locali#ing the iris" uil and both eyelid boundaries" excluding uil and eyelashes
from the hoto and thus creating an iris maing that is invariant to si#e" distance"
magnification and uil dilation. (he next ste involves creating the Iris Code .a high
number 0 u to +=JA 0 of bit robabilities/ through the use of rorietary algorithms which is
ultimately stored in a temlate .+E> bytes for the Iris Code itself K +E> bytes for mas$ing
bits/. (his then allows local or remote storing in centrali#ed databases or ortable media
.smart cards/. (he temlate may contain less information .surrisingly u to A=L less/
without significantly deteriorating the statistical rocess of the decision ma$ing.
6
B

C
12
cm
9
cm
8
cm
a
b d
IRIS SCANNING
Fig2.2- Eam!"e of an iris !attern# imaged monochromatica""y at a distance of about $% cm& 'he out"ine o(er"ay
shows resu"ts of the iris and !u!i" "oca"i)ation and eye"id detection ste!s& 'he bit stream in the to! "eft is the resu"t of
demodu"ation with com!"e-(a"ued wa(e"ets to encode the !hase sequence of the iris !attern&
2.3COMPARING TEMPLATES
(he basic method of temlate matching is to loo through all the ixels in the search image and
comare them to the attern. !hile this method is simle to imlement and understand" it is one
of the slowest methods.
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IRIS SCANNING
&oth verification .*-*/ or identification .*-N/ modes" involve ta$ing a live hotograh of the iris
to be matched" and comaring the resultant IrisCode against the stored temlate .*-* verification/
or with N IrisCodes registered in a database .*-N identification/. (he matching is done through
bit4to4bit comarison .logical exclusive 8R oerator/ which is a very fast method of calculating
the so4called average Damming distance between the two IrisCodes comared. (here are other
methods of measuring the correlations between two iris images but they are still under
develoment.
Fig2.3- 'em!"ate *atching
2.4 DECLARING A MATCH
As is the case with all biometric systems" the matching rocess roduces a score that is then
forwarded to the decision rocess which comares the secific score to a decision threshold that
may be ad;usted to the alication. In the case of iris recognition the threshold may be easily
comuted in such a way so as to allow = false matches almost indeendent of the number of
entries in the database .in identification mode/ and also ensuring minimal genuine false non4
matches.
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IRIS SCANNING
Fig2.4.1- Iris +ecognition System Schematic
Fig2.4.2-,"gorithm Schematic
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IRIS SCANNING
Fig 2.4.3-,"gorithm Schematic
CHAPTER-3
ADVANTAGES
(he iris of the eye has been described as the ideal art of the human body for biometric
identification for several reasons-
It is an internal organ that is well rotected against damage and wear by a highly
transarent and sensitive membrane .the cornea/. (his distinguishes it from fingerrints"
which can be difficult to recogni#e after years of certain tyes of manual labor.
(he iris is mostly flat and its geometric configuration is only controlled by two
comlementary muscles .the shincter uillae and dilator uillae/" which control the
diameter of the uil. (his ma$es the iris shae far more redictable than" for instance"
that of the face.
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IRIS SCANNING
(he iris has a fine texture that 0 li$e fingerrints 0 is determined randomly during
embryonic gestation. 9ven genetically identical individuals have comletely indeendent
iris textures" whereas %NA .genetic BfingerrintingB/ is not uni'ue for the about *.EL of
the human oulation who have a genetically identical mono#ygotic twin.
An iris scan is similar to ta$ing a hotograh and can be erformed from about *= cm to
a few meters away. (here is no need for the erson to be identified to touch any
e'uiment that has recently been touched by a stranger" thereby eliminating an ob;ection
that has been raised in some cultures against finger4rint scanners" where a finger has to
touch a surface" or retinal scanning" where the eye can be brought very close to a lens
.li$e loo$ing into a microscoe lens/.
Some argue that a focused digital hotograh with an iris diameter of about +== ixels
contains much more long4term stable information than a fingerrint.
(he only currently commercially deloyed iris recognition algorithm" 6ohn %augman's
Iris Code" has an unrecedented false match rate .better than *=
M**
/. Not a single false
match has ever been reorted for this algorithm" which has already been used to cross4
comare more than +== billion combinations of iris airs as art of the immigration
rocedures in the 3nited Arab 9mirates.
!hile there are some medical and surgical rocedures that can affect the color and
overall shae of the iris" the fine texture remains remar$ably stable over many decades.
Some iris identifications have succeeded over a eriod of about ,= years.
7atterns are easy to cature and encode.
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IRIS SCANNING
CHAPTER-4
DISADVANTAGES
Iris scanning is a relatively new technology and is incomatible with the very substantial
investment that the law enforcement and immigration authorities of some countries have
already made into fingerrint recognition.
Iris recognition is very difficult to erform at a distance larger than a few meters and if
the erson to be identified is not cooerating by holding the head still and loo$ing into
the camera.
As with other hotograhic biometric technologies" iris recognition is suscetible to oor
image 'uality" with associated failure to enroll rates.
As with other identification infrastructure .national residents databases" I% cards" etc./"
civil rights activists have voiced concerns that iris4recognition technology might hel
governments to trac$ individuals beyond their will.
Iris scanning technology is far from foolroof however. Scanners have been fooled by
users lacing hotograhs of irises over their own eyes .with holes cut out for their own
uils/.
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IRIS SCANNING
CHAPTER-
SPEED PERFORMANCE SUMMARY
8n a ,== )D# Sun wor$station" the execution times for the critical stes in iris
recognition are as follows" using otimi#ed integer code-
8eration (ime
Assess image focus *E msec
Scrub secular reflections E> msec
:ocali#e eye and iris @= msec
Cit uillary boundary *+ msec
%etect and fit both eyelids @, msec
Remove lashes and contact lens edges NA msec
%emodulation and Iris Code creation *=+ msec
O8R comarison of two Iris Codes *= micro sec
Table5.1-S!eed -erformance Summary
Fig5.1-Decision En(ironment for Iris +ecognition
CHAPTER-!
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
:i$e with most other biometric identification technology" a still not satisfactorily solved roblem
with iris recognition is the roblem of Blive tissue verificationB. (he reliability of any biometric
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IRIS SCANNING
identification deends on ensuring that the signal ac'uired and comared has actually been
recorded from a live body art of the erson to be identified" and is not a manufactured temlate.
)any commercially available iris recognition systems are easily fooled by resenting a high4
'uality hotograh of a face instead of a real face" which ma$es such devices unsuitable for
unsuervised alications" such as door access4control systems. (he roblem of live tissue
verification is less of a concern in suervised alications .e.g." immigration control/" where a
human oerator suervises the rocess of ta$ing the icture.
)ethods that have been suggested to rovide some defence against the use of fa$e eyes and
irises include-
Changing ambient lighting during the identification .switching on a bright lam/" such
that the uillary reflex can be verified and the iris image be recorded at several different
uil diameters
Analysing the +% satial fre'uency sectrum of the iris image for the ea$s caused by the
rinter dither atterns found on commercially available fa$e4iris contact lenses
Analysing the temoral fre'uency sectrum of the image for the ea$s caused by
comuter dislays
3sing sectral analysis instead of merely monochromatic cameras to distinguish iris
tissue from other material
8bserving the characteristic natural movement of an eyeball .measuring nystagmus"
trac$ing eye while text is read" etc./
(esting for retinal retroreflection .red4eye effect/
(esting for reflections from the eye's four otical surfaces .front and bac$ of both cornea
and lens/ to verify their resence" osition and shae
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IRIS SCANNING
3sing ,% imaging .e.g." stereo cameras/ to verify the osition and shae of the iris
relative to other eye features
A +==J reort by the German Cederal 8ffice for Information Security noted that none of the iris4
recognition systems commercially available at the time imlemented any live4tissue verification
technology. :i$e any attern4recognition technology" live4tissue verifiers will have their own
false4re;ect robability and will therefore further reduce the overall robability that a legitimate
user is acceted by the sensor.
CHAPTER-"
DEPLOYED APPLICATIONS
8ne of three biometric identification technologies internationally standardi#ed by ICA8
for use in future assorts .the other two are fingerrint and face recognition/
3<'s IRIS 4 Iris Recognition Immigration System
In a number of 3S and Canadian airorts" as art of the N9O3S rogram that facilitates
entry into the 3S and Canada for re4aroved" low4ris$ travellers.
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IRIS SCANNING
In several Canadian airorts" as art of the CAN7ASS Air rogram that facilitates entry
into Canada for re4aroved" low4ris$ air travellers.
Fig7.1-Iris Code Databases In U,E
3nited Arab 9mirates border control at all *N air" land and sea orts since +==* .%atabase
of J+="=== iris codes of exellees. It is the largest national deloyment of iris recognition.
Identifying the )ystery !oman
Iris recognition systems are also finding unexected alications. (he best $nown
examle involved using iris recognition to confirm the identification of a mysterious
young Afghan woman originally hotograhed by Nation Geograhic hotograher Steve
)cCurry in *@AJ. Some *A years later" )cCurry hotograhed Sharbat Gula in
Afghanistan. At the behest of National Geograhic" %r. 6ohn %augman" develoer of the
iris recognition system" then comared the irides in the hotograhs using his algorithms.
De concluded that the eyes were a match.
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IRIS SCANNING
Fig7.2- .at/eo co(er /ir"
A ublic Iris Scan system
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IRIS SCANNING
Fig7.3- -ub"ic Iris Scan System (a"a *inority +e!ort)
CHAPTER-#
PERFORMANCE CHALLENGES
Iris recognition wor$s 0 well 0 in a reasonably constrained system. (he technical challenge is in
reducing the constraints
Stand4off distance- the distance between the image ac'uisition system and the sub;ect. In
some cases" there may be two standoff distances" the camera4sub;ect distance and the
illumination4sub;ect distance.
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IRIS SCANNING
Cature volume- the volume in J dimensions .sace and time/ within which an iris image
can be catured with high robability that it will generate an accetable iris temlate. (he
iris must be within the volume for a rescribed eriod and oriented toward the image
cature system to within P *E degrees.
8rientation- dealing with ga#e that is not directed toward the camera
CHAPTER-$
TECHNOLOGY COMPARISON
Method Coded Pattern Misidentification rate Security Applications
Iris Recognition Iris pattern 1/1,200,000 High High-security facilities
Fingerprinting Fingerprints 1/1,000 Medium Uniersal
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IRIS SCANNING
Hand !hape !i"e, length and thic#ness of hands 1/$00 %o& %o&-security facilities
Facial Recognition 'utline, shape and distri(ution of eyes and nose 1/100 %o& %o&-security facilities
!ignature !hape of letters, &riting order, pen pressure 1/100 %o& %o&-security facilities
)oice printing )oice characteristics 1/*0 %o& +elephone serice
Table9.1-'echno"ogy Com!arison
CHAPTER-1%
IRIS SCAN MAR&ET SI'E
(hough it is one of the later emerging technologies in the biometric mar$et" iris4scan is
set to grow substantially through +==N. Iris4scan offers low false match rates and hands4
free oeration" and is the only viable alternative to fingerrint technologies in *-N
alications where a single record must be located. Iris4scan's resistance to false matches
is offset somewhat by the the level of training re'uired to use the system effectively. As
such" iris4scan will rimarily be used in alications that re'uire high levels of security"
although convenience4driven deloyments .e.g. 7rivium/ will continue. Iris4scan
revenues are ro;ected to grow from Q*>.+m in +==+ to Q+*=.+m in +==N. Iris4scan
revenues are exected to comrise aroximately EL of the entire biometric mar$et.
Some of the fields where this technology is going to dominate are Iris Recognition (ime
Attendance Access control systems India" &iometric" &iometric security services"
&iometric solutions" &iometric technology" &iometric fingerrint" &iometric comanies"
&iometric fingerrint" &iometric research" &iometric boo$s" biometric tutorials" biometric
India" biometric access" biometric contact une" bioaccess" biometric roducts" fingerrint
India" time attendance" fingerrint access control" time cards" biometric identification"
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IRIS SCANNING
biometric research" biometric solutions" biometric services" biometrics "&iometrics India"
3SA" America" 9uroe" 6aan" 3<" Germany" Crance" 3A9" Singaore.
CHAPTER-11
IRIS SCAN ISSUES
Iris4scan technology re'uires reasonably controlled and cooerative user interaction 4 the
enrollee must hold still in a certain sot" even if only momentarily. )any users struggle to
interact with the system until they become accustomed to its oerations. In alications whose
user interaction is fre'uent .e.g. emloyee hysical access/" the technology grows easier to use?
however" alications in which user interaction is infre'uent .e.g. national I%/ may encounter
ease4of4use issues. 8ver time" with imroved ac'uisition devices" this issue should grow less
roblematic.
(he accuracy claims associated with iris4scan technology may overstate the real4world efficacy
of the technology. &ecause the claimed e'ual error rates are derived from assessment and
matching of ideal iris images .unli$e those ac'uired in the field/" actual results may not live u to
the astronomical ro;ections rovided by leading suliers of the technology.
:astly" since iris technology is designed to be an identification technology" fallbac$ rocedures
may not be as fully develoed as in a verification deloyment .users accustomed to identification
may not carry necessary I%" for examle/. (hough these issues do not reduce the effectiveness of
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IRIS SCANNING
iris recognition technology" they must be $et in mind should a comany decide to imlement on
iris4based solution.
CHAPTER-12
CONCLUSION
&iometric Iris recognition has the otential to rovide significant benefits to society. At the
same time" the raid growth and imrovement in the technology could threaten individual
rivacy rights. (he concern with balancing the rivacy of the citi#en against the government
interest occurs with almost all law enforcement techni'ues. Iris recognition is by no means a
erfect technology and much technical wor$ has to be done before it becomes a truly viable
tool to counter terrorism and crime. &ut the technology is getting better and there is no
denying its tremendous otential. In the meantime" we" as a society" have time to decide how
we want to use this new technology. &y imlementing reasonable safeguards" we can harness
the ower of the technology to maximi#e its ublic safety benefits while minimi#ing the
intrusion on individual rivacy. In fact in the future this technology will become very
common as is evident from the following cartoon striRR.
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IRIS SCANNING
CHAPTER-13
APPENDIX
13.1 REFERENCES
1. 1!i$iedia" online encycloedia" 'Iris Scanning.Article/'" lin$-
htt-55en.wi$iedia.org5wi$i5Iris Scanning.
2. 6ohn %augman- Dow iris recognition wor$s. I999 (ransactions on Circuits and
Systems for Hideo (echnology *J.*/" 6anuary +==J" +*0,=
3. 1IRIS R9C8GNI(I8N4 7D8(8NS (8 I%9N(I(S2... 6ames R. )atey
Sarnoff Cororation.
4. Sandia Reort SAN% @>4*=,, .*@@>/" Systems 9ngineering %eartment" Sandia
National :aboratories. Result cited also on . ,A" ScientiTc American" Aril *@@>.
. C. Seal" ). Giord" and %. )cCartney .*@@N/" UIris recognition for user validation"B
&ritish (elecommunications 9ngineering 6ournal vol. *>" no. N" . **,4**N.
13.2 LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO. NAME PAGE NO
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IRIS SCANNING
*.* Duman Iris +
+.* Image Ac'uisition >
+.+ Iris 7attern Generation N
+., (emlate Generation A
+.J.* Iris Recognition System Schematic @
+.J.+ Algorithm Schematic *=
+.J., Algorithm Schematic *=
E.* %ecision 9nvironment *J
N.* Iris Recognition in 3A9 *N
N.+ Afghan Girl on NatGeo )aga#ine *A
N., 7ublic Iris Scan System *@
Iris Cartoon +,
13.3 LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO NAME OF TABLE PAGE NO
E.* Seed 7erformance Summary *J
@.* (echnology Comarison +*
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