New York, USA, October 31, 2017
Rutgers University scientists under the leadership of Professor Yingying Chen, have developed a new biometric system for people to gain access to their cars and homes.
This new system senses a person’s finger vibrations and verifies who the users are by the pressure they apply, the pattern of their movements, the touch etc. The reason it is possible for the device to dot his is because each person’s bones in their index finger is as unique as their fingerprint.
The device can be Embedded in a smooth surface such as the wood adjacent to an electronic door lock, or the steel of a car door. –There is a small motor that generates vibrations, and a piezoelectric sensor that detects those same vibrations.
When someone touches the area between the motor and the sensor, their finger absorbs some of the vibrations and reflects others back into the wood or other material, changing the direction or the trajectory of those vibrations. The sensor registers these changes in the vibrations that it’s receiving. It is then possible for the system to identify the individual who’s doing the touching, based on the unique way in which their finger’s bone structure absorbs and reflects the vibrations.
The surface that contains VibWrite also includes a PIN password, or a slide unlocking pattern, for added security measures.
In tests so far, VibWrite has been able to verify the identity of users with 95 percent accuracy. It uses little electricity, and is claimed to be about one-tenth the cost of more sophisticated technologies such as fingerprint-reading and iris-recognition systems. Chen and her team, however, still plan on improving its performance, and assessing how it’s affected by variables such as temperature, humidity and dust.
It is different from traditional, password-based approaches, that validate passwords, as well as behavioural biometrics-based solutions, which typically involve touch screens, fingerprint readers or other costly hardware and lead to privacy concerns and “smudge attacks” that trace oily residues on surfaces from fingers.
“Smart access systems that use fingerprinting and iris-recognition are very secure, but they’re probably more than 10 times as expensive as our VibWrite system, especially when you want to widely deploy them,” Chen said.
The authentication process can be performed on any solid surface beyond touch screens and on any screen size,according to the research paper. This means that the technology can be used as a security systems for phones and other appliances as well.
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