Abstract
Biometric access control systems employ the use of biometrics in the identification of the user before granting access to an otherwise restricted area. The technology involves the automated mechanisms of recognizing or verifying the identity of a living organism using a behavioral or a physiological attribute. It presents various features and advantages that place it above the other access control systems. Biometric access control not only provides access control features, but it also provides user management features. The system used different behavioral and physical attributes as biometric characteristics for identification and verification. Testing of individual components of the system is paramount.
Introduction
Cutting edge biometric security approaches have been developed and implemented to guarantee the security of different properties and information through biometric access control. Biometric access control systems highly employ the use of three types of devices; retinal eye scanners, fingerprint readers and hand geometry readers. Biometric access control grants a top notch security as compared to the other forms of access control systems (Crigger, Foster & Hoff, 2012). As opposed to number sequence, physical keys and physical cards used in physical access control systems, biometric access control systems grants access control which is not transferable. It is hard to fake or bypass the security of biometric access control system since it uses specific biometric properties of users. As a consequence, the user must be physically present at the point of identification before access is granted.
Biometric access control systems employ the use of different biometric characteristics-both physiological and behavioral characteristics- in the identification of the user. Some of the behavioral and physiological characteristics utilized for automatic identification include voice, iris, fingerprint, retina, face, keystrokes, finger shape and handwriting.
The imaging technology for biometric access control systems vary greatly given the difference is the physiological and behavioral attributed used in the identification process. Biometric access control systems may measure different dimensions of a signal (Ye et al., 2009). There are different types of signals that can be measured and assessed by biometric access control system: a single one-dimensional signal like voice; a single two-dimensional image like a fingerprint; several simultaneous one-dimensional signals like handwriting; numerous two-dimensional images like iris and face or a three-dimensional image of facial recognition systems.
Principle of operation
Biometrics determines the identity of the user through the use of physiological, chemical or behavioral characteristics as discussed. Biometric access control is a pertinent identity management system with widespread applications. While biometrics can be employed in many applications and uses, biometric access control is widely applied in providing access regulation to regulated sections, facilities and equipment (Zhang, 2012). Biometric access control is mainly used to identify and verify user identity so as to prevent unwarranted persons from gaining access to restricted areas, equipment or facilities.
Biometric access control system is a pattern of recognition unit that collects a specific type of biometric data from a user, centers on a pertinent feature of the data collected, makes a comparison with a present series of attributes in the database, and executes an action based on the accuracy of the comparison.
Biometric access control systems present various advantages over the other forms of access control like physical access control the use of the card, key and access codes. Biometric access control presents the user with a perfect combination of high security and low cost. The system does not need passwords or keycards to operate (Luo, Cheung & Ye, 2009). Keycards and passwords are easily transferable between users. Thus the system can be easily compromised. Additionally, biometric access control performs identification based on physiological attributes. It employs the use of different physical and behavioral attributes like iris, fingerprints, facial and handwriting for identification.
High-level methodology
A normal biometric access control system is made up of four basic kinds of constituents: A quality assessment unit, a feature comparison, a database, a sensor device and a matching unit. The installation and implementation of biometric access control system should consider the installation and testing of individual units before testing the overall operation of the system.
The sensor device
The sensor device can be a scanning device or biometric reader. It acts as the input of the biometric access control system. It access different forms of biometric data and relay the information to the processing unit. Biometric reader or scanning device is employed in gathering data necessary for the verification process of a user (Luo, Cheung & Ye, 2009). It is imperative that the scanning device or the biometric reader is functioning as per its specifications. Since there are numerous types of biometric attributes that can be collected by the device, it is significant to test the device for the specified type of data collected.
It is worth noting that not all of the physiological and behavioral characteristics provide best results. Some of the characteristics are better than others in the development of an effective and efficient biometric access control system (Crigger, Foster & Hoff, 2012). There are five widespread attributes that ideal biometric characteristic must demonstrate; distinctiveness, robustness, accessibility, availability and acceptability.
The biometric sensor forms a significant interface between the biometric access control system and the user. As a consequence, it is crucial to lessen the rate of reading failures at this stage of the system. Since the usefulness and quality of data obtained from the biometric sensor depend on the attributes of the camera, it is crucial that the camera is tested for high-quality imaging (Zhang, 2012). Also, sensors which accept sound and other forms of biometric inputs should be thoroughly assessed so as to lessen read failures.
Data quality assessment
The biometric data collected by the sensor device in a biometric access control system must be examined to establish its suitability for processing. The quality of biometric data gathered is assessed through the use of an algorithm designed to improve its quality (Luo, Cheung & Ye, 2009). During the installation and testing of the system, it is imperative to test thoroughly the algorithm used to assess and enhance the quality of biometric data collected by the biometric sensor or scanner. Testing this algorithm and data quality assessment as a whole is significant so as to minimize the number of time the system ask the user to resubmit the data.
Comparison and Matching
The biometric features extracted from the collected biometric data is compared to the stored biometric template and matched with identical points. A match score is generated by the amount of matching points between the template and the feature selected from the biometric data gathered. The comparison and matching are done by the dedicated processor installed in the system alongside a database of template data (Crigger, Foster & Hoff, 2012). A matching device is composed of a decision-making apparatus. It is crucial to perform relevant tests to this apparatus.
System database
The system database is used to store biometric information as well as additional information that describe the user. All the information needed to process a biometric reading is stored in the system database. The system database should be tested appropriately to ensure that the information stored in the database is accurate so as to avoid system failure due to a mismatch in comparisons.
Summary and Conclusion
As opposed to physical access control system and other types of access control systems, biometric access control systems is regarded as one of the most secure access control systems. The biometric access control system is not transferable as compared to the use of physical key cards in physical access control systems. It is imperative to perform system checks and test during the installation and after installation of the system so as to ensure its efficiency.
References
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