Design And Implementation Of An Attendance System Using Fingerprint Scanner

2.2    Review of the History of Biometric Authentication
This section of the literature review provides brief history of biometric systems from inception.
In 1858, systematic capturing of hand and finger images was used by Sir William Herschel to distinguish employees. (Maltoni et. al, 2009). This was the inception of biometrics in problem solving.
In 1870, Alphonse Bertillon designed a method of identification by using body measurements/descriptions and photographs. It aided law enforcement but was later stopped because such measurements were not unique. (State University of New York at Canton, 2003).
In 1892, Sir Francis Galton designed a system which focused on using very precise unique characteristics to distinguish individuals such as a birth mark.
In 1896, Sir Edward Henry achieved success in using the fingerprint recognition system in identifying prisoners. By allowing the filing of thousands of fingerprint impressions, fingerprints were easily matched and traced. (Scottish Criminal Record Office, 2002).
Retinal Scans were introduced by Dr. Leonard Flom and Dr. Aran Safir in 1985 as it was discovered that an iris is unique to an individual and thus improved biometric facial recognition (Maltoni et. al, 2009).
Advanced studies in fingerprint automation began at the end of the 20th century. Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) were designed to combat three major challenges:
1.    Digital fingerprint authentication acquisition
2.    Ridge characteristic extraction
3.    Pattern matching (Pankanti et al., 2002)
2.3    Review of the History of Fingerprint Biometric System
From various archaeologist findings, fingerprint impressions have been in existence for many centuries.
In ancient Chinese and Babylonian customs, fingerprints were used as signatures to state the identity of the sender of a message (Maltoni et. al, 2009). Overtime, fingerprints were observed to be exclusive unique to an individual.
In 1823, microscopes were used by Professor Marcello Malpighi to observe the ridges on any fingerprint to further study fingerprint patterns. This gave way to modern research into the use of fingerprint as a biometric identifier.
As the use of the Bertillon system became more popular in 1870, which meant was the measurement of physical characteristics to profile an individual, Sir Herschel realized fingerprints could identify an individual even more. Therefore, more research went into the fingerprint discovery.
In the 1890’s, a British official called Sir Edward Richard Henry suggested that the critically studied fingerprinting system was the solution to the identification of individuals and solution to the high crime rate then. This led to his publishing a book called ‘Classification and Uses of Fingerprints’. This system replaced the Bertillon system.
Sir Edward in 1901, created the first fingerprint files which was a compilation of fingerprints of various prisoners. This file could differentiate identical twins by means of their stored fingerprints.
By 1971, the FBI had 200 million fingerprint cards which were all gotten manually.
More agencies sent fingerprint impressions to the FBI thus the increase.
Australia, in 1986, created the first computerize fingerprint imaging technological device. This eliminated the duplicated fingerprints in the manual files.
2.4    Fingerprint Sensing Technology
Fingerprints become fully formed at seven months of the foetus development and the ridge structure doesn’t change throughout life. (F. Alonso-Fernandez, 2007). Ridge and valley impressions or patterns can be acquired off-line or by live scan (N. K. Ratha et. al, 1996).
The off-line method, which can be described as ‘ink-technique’ is obtained by smearing ink or a coloured substance on the fingertip in order to obtain the fingerprint. It is then scanned.
The live-scan method is obtained by placing the fingertip on a sensor and that sensor digitally obtains the impression on the fingerprint and prints it out.
2.4.1 Fingerprint Acquisition Technology
Fingerprints can be recognized and acquired through various means. Factors influencing the choice of this acquisition technology are design topology, pixel quality, salient feature recognition. The following are some fingerprint acquisition methods:
1.    Optical: This captures the fingerprint using visible light. It is a sensor in form of a camera and light reflections on the fingertip result in the image. Figure 2.2 is an example of a fingerprint obtained by an optical scanner.