Twin test: On discriminability of fingerprints

Abstract

Automatic identification methods based on physical biometric characteristics such as fingerprint or iris can provide positive identification with a very high accuracy. However, the biometrics-based methods assume that the physical characteristics of an individual (as captured by a sensor) used for identification are distinctive. Identical twins have the closest genetics-based relationship and, therefore, the maximum similarity between fingerprints is expected to be found among identical twins. We show that a state-of-the-art automatic fingerprint identification system can successfully distinguish identical twins though with a slightly lower accuracy than nontwins. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2001.