Biometrics Fingerprint based identity verification Master Thesis , 20 credits Magnus Eriksson

A biometric identify verification system tries to verify user identities by comparing some sort of behavioral or physiological trait of the user to a previously stored sample of the trait. The recent developments in the biometrics area have lead to smaller, faster and cheaper systems, which in turn has increased the number of possible application areas for biometric identity verification. Today, silicon fingerprint scanners measuring only 2x15x15 mm are available for only a few dollars. Most fingerprint verifications systems use minutiae point matching. Minutiae points are the points in fingerprint images where the fingerprint ridges either end or splits up into two new ridges. There are two main approaches to minutia detection in fingerprint images, binary detection and direct grayscale detection. This thesis presents a binary approach to minutia detection.