Biometric ID Cards

"Want to build an ID or access control system that can't be spoofed?"

Combining a portrait identification card with the holder's unique "biometric" signature data is as close as we can currently get to an impregnable ID or access control solution.

There are many candidate biometric identification technologies, including fingerprints, retinal scans, iris scans, and facial recognition algorithms.

various proprietary algorithms and scanner technologies, all of which have their own staunch advocates, further subdivide these.

Rumour has it that several early adopters of this type of technology had to beat a hasty retreat after running into significant operational problems.

It is therefore important to choose wisely, and to think through the whole biometric process and its practical operation, before "buying the best"!

Problems encountered so far have included:-

False negatives. People get very embarrassed and annoyed if they are barred from their normal place of work by a computer. (False positives are unlikely to be a problem).
Health concerns. People are sometimes frightened of the scanning technology, or of the risk of cross infection due to the tactile nature of the scanners.
Entrance congestion. If the system is badly implemented, a line of frustrated employees can develop.
Bypass. It is no use having the most secure ID system if people can get round it by "tailgating". Turnstile or airlock type entrance portals are a necessary adjunct to a biometric access control system.

All of these problems can be overcome in the planning stage, but it is important to recognize that a properly implemented biometric identification system will be costly, in both initial investment and in people-preparation terms.

In practice this means that biometrics are best for very high security installations such as government facilities, nuclear plants, and R&D laboratories.

Biometric data could be stored only on the facility's computer network, but the need to match complex, centrally-stored biometric data at many entrances creates a formidable data communication and processing problem.

Nearly all practical applications therefore store the biometric data on an ID card which can be locally read and compared with the "live" biometric in real time.

Magicard printers offer numerous Data Encoding options, including 2D Barcodes, Magstripe, and contact or Contactless smartcards, all of which can be used for storing biometric data.