Biometric locks

Question: What are biometric locks and how do they work?

Fourchalk: Biometric locks analyze human characteristics to distinguish one person from another for purposes of entry. These characteristics are generally the iris or retina of the eye, the hand, or finger. Through a scanning process, the lock activation takes place.

The iris is so unique that even a person's left and right iris patterns are completely different. Iris-recognition technology involves the use of a camera to capture a digital image of the eye, from which data is extracted. As with the iris, the retina forms a unique pattern. Unauthorized access to a retinal system is reported to be virtually impossible.

The hand geometry technique uses a three-dimensional image of the hand and measures the shape, width and length of fingers and knuckles. A designated hand is placed on the reader, aligning fingers with specific positioned guides. A camera captures both top view, which gives length and width information and a side view which gives the thickness profile.

Finger technology operates on similar principles as hand geometry, but utilizes only one or two fingers. The main advantage is that these systems are fast and designed to accommodate a high-traffic area.