An embedded module for iris micro-characteristics extraction

In this paper a new approach, based on iris microcharacteristics, has been used to make possible an embedded biometric extractor. This recognition approach is based on ophthalmologic studies that have proven the existence of different micro-characteristics as well as fingerprint minutiae. These micro-characteristics are permanent and immutable and they can be used to create strong and robust identification systems. Biometric recognition systems are critical components of our everyday lives. Since such electronic products evolve to software intensive systems, where software, becoming larger, more complex and prevalent, introduces many problems in the development phases. The development of embedded devices is one of the possible solutions to make possible reactive systems in the complex field of software intensive systems. The embedded micro-characteristics extractor proposed in this paper represents the first step to make available an embedded iris-based recognizer. The system has been prototyped on the Celoxica RC203E board, using hardware with programmable FPGA technologies and is able to perform iris processing and micro-characteristics extraction. The goodness of the proposed approach has been tested using an iris image from the CASIA database. The considered iris micro-characteristics are nucleus and collarette and the execution time to extract them is about of 1.1 seconds. © 2009 IEEE.