Development of a Low Cost Biometric Hand

Vein Scanner
Using near infrared imaging

Presented By

Jason Fort

Prepared for:
Dr A. van der Byl
Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

November 2014

This project report is submitted in partial fullment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Science in Mechatronics

(Keywords: Biometrics, Image Processing, Infrared)

Declaration

1. I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use anothers work and pretend that it is
ones own.
2. I have used the IEEE convention for citation and referencing. Each contribution to, and quotation
in, this report from the work(s) of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and
referenced.
3. This report is my own work.
4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing
it o as their own work or part thereof.

Signature:

(J. C. Fort)

Date:

Acknowledgements
To

Abstract
Open the Project Report Template.tex le and carefully follow the comments (starting with
%).
Process the le with pdatex, using other processors may need you to change some features
such as graphics types.
Note the les included in the Project Report Template.tex (with the .tex extension excluded).
You can open these les separately and modify their contents or create new ones.
Contact the latex namual for more features in your document such as equations, subgures,
footnotes, subscripts & superscripts, special characters etc.
I recommend using the kile latex IDE, as it is simple to use.

ii

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Background to the study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2 Objectives of this study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.1 Problems to be investigated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.2 Purpose of the study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.3 Scope and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.4 Plan of development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 Literature Review

2.1 Biometrics as an Identication Technique

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.1.1 Selecting Useful Biometrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.1.2 End User Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2 Identication vs. Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2.1 Biometric Verication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2.2 Biometric Identication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.3 Modes of Verication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.3.1 Multi-modal Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

iii

2.4 Biometric System Architectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.4.1 Biometric Storage

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.4.2 Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.4.3 Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.4.4 Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.5 Prospects for Hand Vein Biometrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.6 IR Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Methodology

4 Design

4.1 Design Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.2 Top Level Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.2.1 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.2.2 Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.3 Specication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.4 Detailed Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.4.1 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.4.2 Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.4.3 User Experience

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.4.4 Expected Lifespan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.4.5 Mass Production Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.5 Integration Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.6 Testing Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

iv

4.7 Maintenance Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

4.8 Environmental Impact Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.9 Summary of Tools Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.9.1 Hardware Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.9.2 Software Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.9.3 Miscellaneous Tools Needed for Assembly and Development . . . . . . . . . . . 10

5 Results

11

5.1 Simulation: Acceptability of the LED Array setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

5.2 Simulation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.3 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

6 Discussion

13

7 Conclusions

14

8 Recommendations

15

List of Figures

vi

List of Tables

vii

Chapter 1

Introduction
1.1 Background to the study
A very brief background to your area of research. Start o with a general introduction to the area
and then narrow it down to your focus area. Used to set the scene.

1.2 Objectives of this study

1.2.1 Problems to be investigated
Description of the main questions to be investigated in this study.

1.2.2 Purpose of the study

Give the signicance of investigating these problems. It must be obvious why you are doing this
study and why it is relevant.

1.3 Scope and Limitations

Scope indicates to the reader what has and has not been included in the study. Limitations tell
the reader what factors inuenced the study such as sample size, time etc. It is not a section for
excuses as to why your project may or may not have worked.

1.4. PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT

1.4 Plan of development

Here you tell the reader how your report has been organised and what is included in each chapter.
I recommend that you write this section last. You can then tailor it to your report.

Chapter 2

Literature Review
In order to get an understanding of the concepts and best practises involved in the eld of biometrics,
it is important to review currently available literature on the topic. This section of the project is
aimed at building up a good understanding of the state-of-the-art with regards to biometrics and
more specically the biometrics for hand vien verication. Some aspects addressed include the
biometric ecosystem; acquisition and processing techniques; acceptability of biometric systems
and typical biometric system architectures. While there is a tendency towards the technical aspects,
slight consideration of the social, environmental and ethical issues in relation to biometrics have
been included in the review.

2.1 Biometrics as an Identication Technique

Over the past few decades there has been a gradual shift into the virtual domain. As more people
go online, there becomes a greater incentive for companies to integrate their conventional systems
with those of the web. Internet banking and e-commerce services are becoming prolic throughout
the digital world. However this reallocation of processes into the digital space comes at a cost.
Keeping track of an online user-base is generally not easy. By allowing remote access to a system
(via the web), the inherent risk of malicious activity is increased. It is therefore, sometimes vitally,
important to verify the identication of a person who access the system. It is natural to suggest
that better methods be investigated to reliably identify users. In the early stages of the internet the
username-password paradigm gained huge popularity as a method of verifying users. In a later
section system the subtle dierences between identication and verication will be made clear.
One other verication methods means is to identify people based on physical, measurable and
especially non-varying metrics.

2.1. BIOMETRICS AS AN IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUE

2.1.1 Selecting Useful Biometrics

It is because of the need to correctly identify people that biometrics exists as a eld of study.
Conversations on the topic will often lead with the most ubiquitous of biometrics - ngerprints. The
availability and uniqueness of an individuals nger print make it a useful biometric characteristic.
However, because of the legacy of ngerprints, there is a number of methods that have been found
(as early as 2003) to fool ngerprint systems[1].
So the ngerprint has started to lose its lustre as a viable security option. On the other side of the
scale, it is suspected that DNA analysis would provide the greatest strength in terms of biometric
security. But the time taken to develop a DNA analysis means that it too would not be suitable as
part of a regularly used biometric security system. After only a brief analysis of biometric security it
becomes apparent that there are a number of requirements that govern the acceptability of such
a system. Indeed, the choice of which biometric to use is dependent on the situation at hand. Due
to the dramatic improvements in technology, there is often a haziness when it comes to specifying
biometric systems. This can be attributed to the lack of solid industry standards in the biometric
eld.
[CITE]

Biometric Accessibility and Uniqueness

The randomness inherent in the human reproductive system allows for random uctuations in
DNA. This means that on a fundamental scale every person is unique and therefore in order for
uniqueness to arise there must exist a means of categorically identifying every individual (whether
we know it or not). Without going too far into biology or philosophy it must be extracted that
uniqueness arises in a number of places with the human body. DNA has been used for a number
of years as a method of identication. But it is inaccessible. There the rst criteria for a useful
biometric is accessibility.
Two of the most important features to consider when selecting biometrics is accessibility and
uniqueness. If a biometric is hard to acquire or easy to replicate then the security of the system
is put in jeopardy. Associated with the accessibly of a biometrics, is the social and psychological
aspects of biometrics. Some people would consider ngerprints as a non-invasive biometric but
would not have the same viewpoint on giving a saliva sample. Especially if it is for something trivial
such as accessing a ATM.

2.2. IDENTIFICATION VS. AUTHENTICATION

2.1.2 End User Considerations

2.2 Identication vs. Authentication

When it comes to biometric systems it is important to make the distinction between the two main
usages. The main disparity is between identication and verication[2]. The two system denitions
mainly dier in the way that the biometric is processed but can also have implications for such
things as the degree of accuracy required during acquisition and the speed at which the process is
computed.

2.2.1 Biometric Verication

Biometric verication requires fewer technological resources compared to identication. Verication
usually involves a user submitting biometric information to a system that is already loosely aware of
the users identication. Concretely the operation to perform is to check that the supplied biometric
matches that which is registered with the system. The systems awareness of the user can be
brought about by the use of a username, access card, NFC device etc.[2].
This is essentially a 1:1 operation whereby there is either a match (which allows access to the
system) or a miss-match which blocks the system or initiates retry operations.
Some common uses for a system such as this would be: ATMs, E-Commerce and user access control
on mobiles.

2.2.2 Biometric Identication

Biometric identication is a method by which a user is identied based solely on their biometric
information. This may be an obvious trait but compared to verication it presents a much larger
scope of problem. A identication system would seek to match an acquired biometric signature
with all of the biometric models stored in a database[2]. For this type of system it becomes necessary
to introduce a distributed architecture. It would be a great risk to security if all biometric models
are stored on a local system. A large data set, such as this, may warrant the use of a dierent
algorithm tailored to search as well as verication.
Potential uses of this kind of system would be for border control, drivers licenses and ID documents.

2.3. MODES OF VERIFICATION

2.3 Modes of Verication

2.3.1 Multi-modal Systems

Multiple Algorithm Techniques

Mutiple Uncorrelated Feature Technique

Feature Combination Techniques

2.4 Biometric System Architectures

2.4.1 Biometric Storage

2.4.2 Acquisition

2.4.3 Processing

2.4.4 Matching

Implicit Matching

Neural Metworks 7 Complexity Analysis

Explicit Matching

2.5 Prospects for Hand Vein Biometrics

2.6 IR Acquisition

Chapter 3

Methodology
This is what I did to test and conrm my hypothesis.
You may want to split this chapter into sub chapters depending on your design. I suggest you
change the title to something more specic to your project.
This is where you describe your design process in detail, from component/device selection to actual
design implementation, to how you tested your system. Remember detail is important in technical
writing. Do not just write I used a computer give the computer specications or the oscilloscopes
part number. Describe the system in enough detail so that someone else can replicate your design
as well as your testing methodology.
If you use or design code for your system, represent it as ow diagrams in text.

Chapter 4

Design
4.1 Design Overview
Overview of the design to consider

4.2 Top Level Design

4.2.1 Hardware

4.2.2 Software
In order to begin the design process it is necessary to identify some key retrain ts to the design. A
good way to identify constraints is to think of a number of use cases that involve the vein scanner.

4.3. SPECIFICATION

4.3 Specication

4.4 Detailed Design

4.4.1 Hardware

LED Array

Choice of Materials

4.4.2 Software

4.4.3 User Experience

4.4.4 Expected Lifespan

...

4.4.5 Mass Production Consequences

...

4.5 Integration Design

How will the system interact with other systems already in place.

4.6 Testing Infrastructure

How will the system be tested during production and during further developments.

4.7. MAINTENANCE DESIGN

4.7 Maintenance Design

How will maintenance be carried out and what are the weak points in this design.

4.8 Environmental Impact Assessment

A brief description of any foreseeable environmental issue that are directly or indirectly to related
to this product.

4.9 Summary of Tools Used

Within this section is a list of all the tools that were used in the design of this product. As far
as possible the design has focused on the use of open source tools. The listed tools below are
accompanied by a brief reason for selection this is ancillary to any reasons discussed in above
sections.

4.9.1 Hardware Tools

4.9.2 Software Tools

1

4.9.3 Miscellaneous Tools Needed for Assembly and Development

http://www.google.com

10

Chapter 5

Results
While the construction of the infrared vein scanner involved
Within this section the results of a number of tests are given. The resutl were mainly orientated
to testing the acceptability of the system. Most of the tests performed were either in the form of
a software simulation or a experimental experiment performed on the system. This disparity is
emphasised within the subsections of the results chapter.

5.1 Simulation: Acceptability of the LED Array setup

With reference to section [TODO]. The appropriate distribution of the LED array was calculated.
Within this experiment, an attempt is made to validate this conguration. In order to fully test
the proposed setup it was necessary to nd software that could accurately simulate the ray traces
emmitted from the LEDs. Finding such software proved a challenge and non scientic software was
on hand to perform this test. As an alternative, an open source 3D animation rendering program
was used.
Blender1 is an open-source application which allows modelling, applying
textures and a number of other animation related functions.
To enhace the ray-trace ability an external addon for blender was also
used - LuxRender2
Present your results in a suitable format using tables and graphs where
necessary. Remember to refer to them in text and caption them
properly.
1
2

http://www.blender.org
http://www.luxrender.net/

11

5.2. SIMULATION RESULTS

5.2 Simulation Results

5.3 Experimental Results

12

Chapter 6

Discussion
Here is what the results mean and how they tie to existing literature...
Discuss the relevance of your results and how they t into the theoretical work you described in
your literature review.

13

Chapter 7

Conclusions
These are the conclusions from the investivation and how the investigation changes things in this
eld or contributes to current knowledge...
Draw suitable and intelligent conclusions from your results and subsequent discussion.

14

Chapter 8

Recommendations
Make sensible recommendations for further work.

15

Bibliography
[1] Antti Stn, Antti Kaseva, and Teemupekka Virtanen. Fooling Fingerprint ScannersBiometric Vulnerabilities of the Precise Biometrics 100 SC Scanner. In: Proceedings
of 4th Australian Information Warfare and IT Security Conference. Vol. 2003. 2003,
pp. 333340.
[2] J.a. Unar, Woo Chaw Seng, and Almas Abbasi. A review of biometric technology along
with trends and prospects. In: Pattern Recognition 47.8 (Aug. 2014), pp. 26732688.
ISSN: 00313203. DOI: 10.1016/j.patcog.2014.01.016. URL: http://linkinghub.
elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S003132031400034X.

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