ECG Signals for Personal Identity Verification

Biometric authentication which focuses on the identification of individuals based on their biological, physiological, or behavioral traits as a feasible approach for access control has evolved with the advancement of technology making way for the automated identification of individuals. Many studies and researchers have identified the potential of using the electrocardiogram as a biometric for the personal identity verification and thus have shown promising characteristics so that it can be utilized as a secure and accurate biometric. The main objective of the research was to prove the validity of utilizing the individual electrocardiogram in order to verify the individuals’ identity. We have proposed an authentication mechanism that uses the individual’s digitized electrocardiogram which would undergo the main processes of a biometric system which are the preprocessing, decomposition and classification. Critical issues like the ability to reject impostors, stability over time and generalization to other datasets were also addressed in confirming the quality and standard of the adapted algorithms in order to prove this phenomenon. Keywords— Biometric; Electrocardiogram; Haar Wavelet; Normalization; Discrete Wavelet Transform;