FPGA Implementation of Biometric Authentication System Based on Hand Geometry

Abstract

The increasing demand for pervasive security poses a challenge in achieving robust authentication at very low cost. Identification using human biometrics is considered the most robust solution, but requires powerful computers to be performed in acceptable time. In this work a FPGA implementation of a biometric authentication system based on hand geometry is presented. The system covers all necessary steps to process a human hand pattern and verify it against a user template. This solution is able to reduce processing time by three orders of magnitude with respect to microprocessor-based solutions of similar cost, while keeping the same identification quality. On the other hand, it can be implemented in a small size FPGA, thus making it suitable for a large number of low cost applications.