Fingerprint Recognition

Biometric recognition, or simply biometrics, is a rapidly evolving field with applications ranging from accessing one's computer to gaining entry into a country. Biometric systems rely on the use of physical or behavioral traits, such as fingerprints, face, voice and hand geometry, to establish the identity of an individual. The deployment of large-scale biometric systems in both commercial (e.g., grocery stores, amusement parks, airports) and government (e.g., US-VISIT) applications has served to increase the public's awareness of this technology. This rapid growth has also highlighted the challenges associated with designing and deploying biometric systems. Indeed, the problem of biometric recognition is a "Grand Challenge" in its own right. This chapter, contributed by two prominent invited researchers in biometrics, describes the fundamentals as well as the latest advancements in biometric fingerprint recognition: from the main components of fingerprint-bas