Near- and Far- Infrared Imaging for Vein Pattern Biometrics

This paper investigates two infrared imaging technologies, far-infrared thermography and near-infrared imaging, to acquire hand vein pattern images for biometric purposes. The imaging principles for both technologies are studied in depth. Experiments 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 biometric system is implemented. The results show that all the test subjects can be correctly identified.