Chapter 5: Implementing Fingerprint Technology

Take a moment and look at your right index finger. You may have to use a magnifying glass, to view the tiny details we are interested in investigating. Upon close examination, you will see ridges, along with the other tiny details that make your fingerprint distinct. Today, many of us are familiar with using fingerprints to uniquely identify someone. However, using friction ridges, or the raised areas on our fingers and palms, were used for identification long ago by the ancient Chinese. The fact is that everyone's fingerprint is unique, even for identical twins, which makes using our fingerprints as a biometric identifier ideal.

In this chapter, we'll learn about one of the most common biometrics available today. We'll first explore early systems and learn how the Henry Classification System and Vucetich's Comparative Dactyloscopy helped overcome the challenges of examining fingerprints. We'll then review...