Multi-Biometric Techniques, Standards Activities and Experimenting

Abstract

The concepts of applying multiple biometric techniques or devices to solve the practical problems that plague biometric deployments have been under development and ana1ysis for some time. The benefits promised include reduced error rates, better enrollment and higher levels of user acceptance. However, these benefits come at a cost, not necessarily the initial implementation costs, but also the investment in accumulating historical data for sensor characterization, development and tuning of computationally complex systems, and possibly in terms of user inconvenience and/or satisfaction. This paper provides a basis for the discussion and ana1ysis of multi-biometric systems. Clear and precise terminology is offered to promote efficient communication within the technical community. A framework is proposed that supports the development of international standards that will promote the deployment and interoperability of these advanced biometric systems. Hypothetical examples of multi-biometric system designs are used to illustrate the concepts and to explore the benefits and costs. A challenge is also formulated to the multi-biometric analysis community to recognize and understand the trade-off between system complexity and achieved benefits. Ill. 1, bibl. 5 (in English; summaries in English, Russian and Lithuanian.).