Vol. 62, n°1-2, January-February 2007

Multimodal Biometrics

Guest editors : Bernadette Dorizzi and Carmen Garcia-Mateo

Foreword

Bernadette Dorizzi* and Carmen Garcia-Mateo

***GET/INT 9 rue Charles Fourier, 91011 Evry - France
** ETSI de Telecomunicacion - Campus Universitario - 36310 Vigo Spain

Human recognition using biometrics: an overview

Arun ROSS*, Anil K. JAIN**
* Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
** Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

Abstract : Establishing identity is becoming critical in our vastly interconnected society. Questions such as “Is she really who she claims to be?”, “Is this person authorized to use this facility?”, or “Is he in the watchlist posted by the government?” are routinely being posed in a variety of scenarios ranging from issuing a drivers license to gaining entry into a country. The need for reliable user authentication techniques has increased in the wake of heightened concerns about security and rapid advancements in networking, communication, and mobility. Biometrics, described as the science of recognizing an individual based on his or her physical or behavioral traits, is beginning to gain acceptance as a legitimate method for determining an individuals identity. Biometric systems have now been deployed in various commercial, civilian, and forensic applications as a means of establishing identity. This paper presents an overview of biometrics and discusses some of the pertinent terminology necessary to understand this technology. The importance of information fusion in the context of biometrics is also highlighted. It is becoming increasingly apparent that multibiometric systems will play a significant role in dispensing the role of identity management in the 21//st //century./

Key words: Biometrics, Automatic recognition, Identification, Authentication, Review, Pattern recognition.

Biosecure reference systems for on-line signature verification: a study of complementarity

Sonia GARCIA-SALICETTI¹, Julian FIERREZ-AGUILAR², Fernando ALONSO-FERNANDEZ², Claus VIELHAUER³, Richard GUEST⁴, Lorene ALLANO¹, Tung DOAN TRUNG¹, Tobias SCHEIDAT³, Bao LY VAN¹, Jana DITTMANN³, Bernadette DORIZZI¹, Javier ORTEGA-GARCIA², Joaquin GONZALEZ-RODRIGUEZ², Martino BACILE DI CASTIGLIONE⁴, Michael FAIRHURST⁴
1. GET/INT (Institut National des Télécommunications), Dept. EPH – 9 rue Charles Fourier, 91011 EVRY France.
2. ATVS/Biometrics Research Lab., Escuela Politecnica Superior, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
3. Otto-Von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, School of Computer Science, Dept. ITI – Universitaetsplatz 2, 39016 Magdeburg, Germany
4. Department of Electronics, University of Kent – Canterbury, CT2 7NT, United Kingdom.


Abstract : In this paper, we present an integrated research study in On-line Signature Verification undertaken by several teams that participate in the BioSecure Network of Excellence. This integrated work, started during the First BioSecure Residential Workshop, has as main objective the development of an On-line Signature Verification evaluation platform. As a first step, four On-line Signature Verification Systems based on different approaches are evaluated and compared followin the same experimental protocol on //MCYT //signature database, which is the largest existing on-line western signature database publicly available with 16 500 signatures from 330 clients. A particular focus of work documented in this paper is multi-algorithmic fusion in order to study the complementarity of the approaches involved. To this end, a simple fusion method based on the Mean Rule is used after a normalization phase./

Key words: Biometrics, Handwriting, Signature, On-line processing, Authentication, Comparative study, Statistical method, Hidden Markov model, Reference model, Mathematical distance, Experimental study, Research program.

Combining multiple matchers for fingerprint verification: A case study in Biosecure Network of Excellence

Fernando ALONSO-FERNANDEZ*, Julian FIERREZ-AGUILAR*, Hartwig FRONTHALER**, Klaus KOLLREIDER**, Javier ORTEGA-GARCIA*, Joaquin GONZALEZ-RODRIGUEZ*, Josef BIGUN**

* ATVS, Escuela Politecnica Superior, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid - Avda. Francisco Tomas y Valiente 11, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid
**Halmstad University, SE-30118, Sweden

Abstract: We report on experiments for the fingerprint modality conducted during the First BioSecure Residential Workshop. Two reference systems for fingerprint verification have been tested together with two additional non-reference systems. These systems follow different approaches of fingerprint processing and are discussed in detail. Fusion experiments involving different combinations of the available systems are presented. The experimental results show that the best recognition strategy involves both minutiae-based and correlation-based measurements. Regarding the fusion experiments, the best relative improvement is obtained when fusing systems that are based on heterogeneous strategies for feature extraction and/or matching. The best combinations of two/three/four systems always include the best individual systems whereas the best verification performance is obtained when combining all the available systems.

Key words: Biometrics, Pattern recognition, Fingerprint, Comparative study, Case study, Identification, Research program, Experimental study, Performance evaluation, Mixed method, Data fusion.

Robust facial landmarking for registration

Albert ALI SALAH*, Hatice ÇINAR**, Lale AKARUN*, Bülent SANKUR**

* Bo˘ gaziçi University, Perceptual Intelligence Laboratory, Computer Engineering Department PK 2TR-34342 Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey.
** Bo˘ gaziçi University, Signal Processing Laboratory, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department, Bebek, 80815, Istanbul, Turkey.

Abstract:Finding landmark positions on facial images is an important step in face registration and normalization, for both 2D and 3D face recognition. In this paper, we inspect shortcomings of existing approaches in the literature and compare several methods for performing automatic landmarking on near-frontal faces in different scales. Two novel methods have been employed to analyze facial features in coarse and fine scales successively. The first method uses a mixture of factor analyzers to learn Gabor filter outputs on a coarse scale. The second method is a template matching of block-based Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) features. In addition, a structural analysis subsystem is proposed that can determine false matches, and correct their positions.

Key words: Biometrics, Image recognition, Face, Parameter extraction, Comparative study, Factor analysis, Cosine transformation, Discrete transformation, Structural analysis, Experimental result.

On the use of genuine-impostor statistical information for score fusion in multimodal biometrics

Pascual EJARQUE*, Ainara GARDE*, Jan ANGUITA*, Javier HERNANDO*

* TALP Research Center, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Technical University of Catalonia Barcelona, Spain

Abstract :Matching score level fusion techniques in multimodal person verification conventionally use global score statistics in the normalization and fusion stages. In this paper, novel normalization and fusion methods are presented to take advantage of the separate statistics of the monomodal scores in order to reduce the genuine and impostor PDF lobe overlapping and improve the verification rate. Joint mean normalization is an affine transformation that normalizes the mean of the monomodal biometrics scores separately for the genuine and impostor individuals. Histogram equalization is used to align the statistical distribution of the monomodal scores and make the whole separate statistics comparable. The presented weighting fusion methods have been designed to minimize the variances of the separate multimodal statistics and reduce the multimodal PDF lobe overlapping. The results obtained in speech and face scores fusion upon POLYCOST and XM2VTS databases show that the proposed techniques provide better results than the conventional methods.

Key words: Biometrics, Comparative study, Mixed method, Statistical method, Histogram, Experimental study, Speaker recognition, Image recognition, Face, Data fusion.

A multimodal hand-based verification system with an aliveness-detection module

Nikola PAVES˘IC´ *, Tadej SAVIC˘ *, Slobodan RIBARIC´ **, Ivan FRATRIC´ **

* Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana - Trzaska 25, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
** Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb - Unska 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract :This paper presents a multimodal biometric verification system based on the following hand features : palmprint, four digitprints and four fingerprints. The features are obtained using the Karhunen-Loève transform based approach, and information fusion at the matching-score level was applied. We experimented with different resolutions of the regions of interest, different numbers of features and several normalization and fusion techniques at the matching-score level. To increase the reliability of the system to spoof attacks we included an aliveness-detection module based on thermal images of the hand dorsa. The verification performance when using a system configuration with optimum parameters, i.e., resolution, number of features, normalization and fusion technique, showed an equal error rate (EER) of 0.0020%, which makes the system appropriate for the implementation of high-security biometric systems.

Key words : Biometrics, Mixed method, Digital print, Statistical method, Karhunen Loeve Transformation, Thermal image, Identification, Image recognition, Parameter extraction, System description, Experimental result, Data fusion.

Beyond objective performance evaluation in multimodal biometric systems

Doroteo T. TOLEDANO*, Álvaro HERNÁNDEZ TRAPOTE**, David DÍAZ PARDO DE VERA**, Rubén FERNÁNDEZ POZO**, Luis HERNÁNDEZ GÓMEZ**

* ATVS, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid - Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco, Avda. Francisco Tomas y Valiente 11, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
** Grupo de Aplicaciones de Procesado de Señal, Departamento de Señales, Sistemas y Radiocomunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain.

Abstract :Biometric identity verification is a reality today. However, this relatively new field still requires a large amount of user-centred studies before becoming commonly used. This paper presents a user-centred analysis of a multimodal authentication system for secure Internet access where users can choose freely between three different biometric modalities (fingerprint, voice and signature) to enrol, verify their identity and act as impostors in an unsupervised manner, aided only by an automated embodied conversational agent. Objective and subjective information was collected to analyse relevant relationships between authentication performance, ergonomic issues and user preconceptions and impressions. Particular attention has been paid to analyse also the evolution of users' choices of modality. From the results of our study we infer usability insights for the design of multimodal biometric security systems, and point towards directions of further inquiry.

Key words : Biometrics, Mixed method, Performance evaluation, Authentication, Internet, Ergonomics, Subjective evaluation, User behavior, User interface, Hypothesis test, Statistical study, Experimental study.

An open framework for distributed biometric authentication in a web environment

Enrique OTERO-MURAS*, Elisardo GONZÁLEZ-AGULLA*, José L. ALBA-CASTRO*, Carmen GARCÍA-MATEO*, Oscar W. MÁRQUEZ-FLÓREZ*

* Universidad de Vigo, Teorl´a de la Señal y Comunicaciones, ETSI Telecomunicacion - Campus Universitario, 36310 Vigo, Spain;

Abstract : Large-scale deployment of biometric systems for web-based services has to tackle technological issues related to security, interoperability and accuracy, and social issues related to privacy protection and biometric acquisition process acceptance. The variety of biometric traits, capturing devices, targeted populations and working scenarios makes the development of a universal solution for all-purpose deployment quite a difficult task. This paper describes the design, implementation and applicability of an open framework for distributed biometric authentication oriented to access-control in web environment. The open principle makes this framework a novel and practical development tool for testing and integrating biometric algorithms and devices from third parties. Special attention has been paid to security and interoperability standards to ease concurrent integration and testing of biometric trait matchers developed by different laboratories or companies. Finally, in order to demonstrate the versatility and usability of the framework, we describe the construction process for a distributed multibiometric database acquisition tool based on this framework.

Key words: Biometrics, Authentication, Distributed processing,World Wide Web, Interoperability, Open system.

Defects detection and localization in complex topology wired networks

Fabrice AUZANNEAU*, Nicolas RAVOT*

* CEA Saclay DRT/DTSI/SARC/LFSE, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France

Abstract :Reflectometry is a well known method widely used to monitor the health of lines and wired networks. This method provides information for the detection, localization and characterization of electrical defects in networks. CEA LIST works on the development and the application of this method for the diagnosis of wired networks of complex topology, targeting embedded systems. Application domains range from telecommunication to automotive and transport, energy distribution, etc. This paper presents a new theoretical model for the precise numerical simulation of reflectometry signals applied to any kind of wired network. Based on standard microwave propagation theory, this model provides simple explicit formulas for both time domain (TDR) and frequency domain (FDR) reflectometry, and is helpful to better understand and explain measurement results in relation with the network's topology.

Key words: Automotive electronics, Wiring, Telephone network, Access network, Telecommunication cable, Reflectometer, Defect detection, Discontinuity, Linear parameter, Star configuration, Time domain method, Tree network.

Above Gbit/s data transmission using full-parallel block turbo decoder architecture

Christophe JEGO*, Patrick ADDE*, Camille LEROUX*

*GET/ENST Bretagne, CNRS TAMCIC UMR 2872, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, CS 83818, 29238 Brest cedex 3, France

Abstract :This paper presents a new circuit architecture for turbo decoding, which achieves ultra high data rates when using product codes as error correcting codes. This architecture is able to decode product codes using binary BCH or m-ary Reed Solomon component codes. The major advantage of our full-parallel architecture is that it enables the memory block between each half-iteration to be removed. In fact, the proposed architecture opens the way to numerous applications such as optical transmission. In particular, our block turbo decoding architecture can support optical transmission at data rates above Gbit/s.

Key words : Digital transmission, High rate, Error correcting code, Turbo code, Parallel architecture, Decoder.

A virtual structure for a self-organization in ad hoc and hybrid networks

Fabrice THEOLEYRE*, Fabrice VALOIS*

* Laboratoire CITI - INSA Lyon - INRIA Rhône-Alpes 21, Avenue Jean Capelle, 69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France

Abstract :Ad hoc networks are spontaneous wireless networks without any wired infrastructure of mobile terminals. We assume that an efficient network is achieved through a selforganization. Thus, we propose here a virtual structure allowing a self-organization, constituted by both a backbone and services areas. The backbone constitutes a connected structure to gather and disseminate the control traffic, representing a natural prolongation of backbone in wired networks. Services areas structure the network in separating the network in homogeneous zones managed by a clusterhead. Since terminals are mobile, we propose both construction and maintenance procedures in order to maintain an efficient and stable virtual structure, during all the network life, in order to create a stable virtual structure, we introduce a stability metric, depending on several criteria. Finally, a power-energy saving solution is proposed to optimize the network lifetime.

Key words : Telecommunication network, Radiocommunication, Ad hoc network, Self organization, Mobile station, Stability, Energy management, Hierarchical system.