Optimum Fusion Rules for Multimodal Biometric Systems

“Biometrics is the automated use of physiological or behavioral characteristics to determine or verify identity”. The first modern commercial biometric device was introduced over 25 years ago when a machine that measured finger length was installed for maintaining employee time records at Shearson Hamil on Wall Street. In the ensuing years, hundreds of these hand geometry devices have been installed for security purposes at facilities operated by Western Electric and Naval Intelligence. In the US today, biometric security systems may be found in the Oakland International Airport (face recognition), Chicago O'Hare International (fingerprint), and Navy Consolidated Building (Iris recognition) [1]. With the demand for better security technology increasing, a variety of pilot projects have been completed recently in the area of access control [2]. These projects highlight the need to improve biometric verification accuracy.