ABSTRACT
Biometrics has been employed in a variety of applications. Most people associate biometrics with security applications such as physical and logical access. Indeed, physical access to buildings, laboratories, data centers, and other secure facilities is a highly visible, traditional application for biometric technology. Moreover, logical access to commercial and corporate networks, personal computers (PCs), financial accounts (for example, automated teller machines [ATMs]), and other virtual systems is a strong and rapidly growing application. Clearly, vein pattern recognition (VPR) systems can readily address physical and logical access control applications. However, there are a growing number of other applications such as workforce management-a significant headache for many businesses, and one that biometrics can solve with efficiency and convenience. Another key application is membership, whereby a member of a given organization needs to verify his identity to access the benefits of membership. Biometrics can determine if an individual is already part of a database, such as someone seeking a social service benefit, driver’s license, or national ID. Finally, biometrics is extremely useful in accountability applications whereby one needs to authenticate an identity, such things as boarding a commercial aircraft, ship, bus, or train; maintaining a chain of evidence; or signing for a classified document. Although these broad categories are by no means the only appropriate applications for biometric technologies, they are the primary ones in use today.
