Phase-Based Image Matching Used for an Effective Approach for Iris Recognition

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for iris recognition using phase-based image matching—an image matching technique using phase components in 2D Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFTs) of given images. Experimental evaluation using the CASIA iris image databases (versions 1.0 and 2.0) and Iris Challenge Evaluation (ICE) 2005 database clearly demonstrates that the use of phase components of iris images makes it possible to achieve highly accurate iris recognition with a simple matching algorithm. This paper also discusses the major implementation issues of our algorithm. In order to reduce the size of iris data and to prevent the visibility of iris images, we introduce the idea of 2D Fourier Phase Code (FPC) for representing iris information. The 2D FPC is particularly useful for implementing compact iris recognition devices using state-ofthe-art Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology.