Hand and Wrist Physiological Features Extraction for near Infrared Biometrics

In this work we present an efficient approach for physiological features extraction from near infrared images of the hand and the lower forearm-wrist region. The physiological features represent the dorsal venous network of the hand and the superficial veins in the lower forearm and wrist region. These networks are unique to each individual and can be used as a biometric system for person recognition. An active near infrared technique is used for image acquisition. The proposed approach uses an anisotropic diffusion technique for contrast enhancement and morphological filtering to extract the venous network.