Vein pattern recognition offers an array of advantages over other biometric techniques, including the following:
- Ease of feature extraction – Veins provide large, robust, relatively stable and hidden (to the naked eye) biometric features. Infrared absorption patterns are easily compared through the use near-IR which has no injurious effects on the human body. Vein pattern stability and repeatability do not require complicated algorithms for identify verification.
- Spoof resistance – Vein patterns are not easily observed, damaged, obscured or changed. They do not exhibit latency properties; and they are quite difficult to replicate. This makes them highly resistant to spoofing. Moreover, all the VPR systems digitize and encrypt the data in the templates.
- Highly accurate – Vein patterns have very low false acceptance levels (< .0001%) or low false reject levels (<.01%), and FTE rates less than 0.08% of most populations. Finger vein patterns can differentiate between identical twins; that claim is shared only by iris and retina recognition modalities. Moisture, precipitation, minor dirt and cuts do not impact the accuracy of VPR systems.
- Environmentally free – Vein patterns are much less susceptible to many external factors in the way that fingerprinting, facial recognition, or iris scanning can be. For example, indoor lighting has little effect on vein authentication. Some VPR systems can achieve authentication under sunlight as well, rendering authentication possible whether the individual is indoor or outdoor.
- User friendliness – Vein pattern technology can be privacy enhancing; it is fast (< 2 seconds), user intuitive regarding the placement of one’s finger, hygienic, and is generally bereft of cultural bias and criminal stigmas. Additionally, automated audio and visual guidance during both enrollment and verification transactions provide helpful feedback.
