Retinal based authentication via distributed web application

Abstract

Traditional authentication systems, employed to gain access to a private area in a building or to data stored in a computer, are based on something the user has (an authentication card, a magnetic key) or something the user knows (a password, an identification code). But emerging technologies allow for more reliable and comfortable for the user, authentication methods, most of them based on biometric parameters. Much work could be found in literature about biometric based authentication, using parameters like iris, voice, fingerprints, face characteristics, and others. We have developed a new methodology for personal authentication, where the biometric parameter employed for the authentication is the retinal vessel tree, acquired through a retinal angiography. It has already been asserted by expert clinicians that the configuration of the retinal vessels is unique for each individual and that it does not vary in his life, so it is a very well suited identification characteristic. In this work we will present the design and implementation stages of an application which allows for a reliable personal authentication in high security environments based on the retinal authentication method. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.