Remember The ZTE Grand S3 that we saw yesterday that features an eye-based biometric security system? Forget that and forget fingerprint sensor technologies too. Fujitsu recently unveiled an iris authentication system for mobile phones.
Imagine unlocking your phone just by looking at your smartphone screen, that’s how an iris authentication system works. It sounds a lot like Face Unlock that is available in Android smartphones now, but it actually has an iris recognition program on board making it a lot more accurate, and very difficult to forge.
The iris authentication system relies on an infrared LED and an infrared camera built into the phone. The system would shine an infrared LED light into the eye before capturing it with the camera. The pattern of the iris, which is as unique as a person’s fingerprint, would then be scanned and used to verify matches.
“The result is a system that can reliably authenticate the detailed patterns of the iris and that can be used in most everyday situations. Because this uses ActiveIRIS® from Delta ID, a high-speed, high-reliability iris recognition engine, this system can be used at a normal smartphone viewing distance, rather than within the 10-cm range that most existing iris recognition systems require. In standard photobiological safety testing (IEC 62471), the infrared LED light was verified to be safe for the eyes.”
Like most biometric security smartphones we have today, the application goes beyond just unlocking a phone. Fujitsu’s iris authentication system can be used to log into web services, and the company is looking into applying this technology into a wide range of fields, including security system.
The technology is currently available on a prototype smartphone and is even available for view at the on-going MWC 2015.
(Source: Fujitsu)
