Behinco Iris:

Before recognition of the iris takes place, the iris is located using landmark features. These landmark features and the distinct shape of the iris allow for imaging, feature isolation, and extraction. Localization of the iris is an important step in iris recognition because, if done improperly, resultant noise (e.g., eyelashes, reflections, pupils, and eyelids) in the image may lead to poor performance.

Iris imaging requires use of a high quality digital camera. Today’s commercial iris cameras typically use infrared light to illuminate the iris without causing harm or discomfort to the subject.

As discussed above, iris recognition utilizes the iris muscle to perform verification. Retinal recognition uses the unique pattern of blood vessels on an individual’s retina at the back of the eye. The figure below illustrates the structure of the eye.

Both techniques involve capturing a high quality picture of the iris or retina, using a digital camera. In the acquisition of these images, some form of illumination is necessary. Both techniques use NIR (near infrared) light. Although safe in a properly designed system, eye safety is a major concern for all systems that illuminate the eye. Because infrared has insufficient energy to cause photochemical effects, the principal potential damage modality is thermal. When NIR is produced using light emitting diodes, the resulting light is incoherent. Any risk for eye safety is remote with a single LED source using today's LED technology. Multiple LED illuminators can, however, produce eye damage if not carefully designed and used.