Impact of age groups on fingerprint recognition performance

Ever since introduction of automated fingerprint recognition in law enforcement in the 1970s it has been utilized in applications ranging from personal authentication to civilian border control. The increasing use of automated fingerprint recognition puts on it a challenge of processing a diverse range of fingerprints. The quality control module is important to this process because it supports consistent fingerprint detail extraction which helps in identification / verification. Inherent feature issues, such as poor ridge flow, and interaction issues, such as inconsistent finger placement, have an impact on captured fingerprint quality, which eventually affects overall system performance. Aging results in loss of collagen; compared to younger skin, aging skin is loose and dry. Decreased skin firmness directly affects the quality of fingerprints acquired by sensors. Medical conditions such as arthritis may affect the user's ability to interact with the sensor, further reducing fingerprint quality. Because quality of fingerprints varies according to the user population's ages and fingerprint quality has an impact on overall system performance, it is important to understand the significance of fingerprint samples from different age groups. This research examines the effects of fingerprints from different age groups on quality levels, minutiae count, and performance of a minutiae-based matcher. The results show a difference in fingerprint image quality across age groups, most pronounced in the 62-and-older age group, confirming the work of [7].