Proof-of-concept and evaluation of a dual function visible/NIR camera for iris authentication in smartphones

As a robust method of person authentication, iris biometrics is making its way in to consumer devices such as smartphones. Current iris image acquisition devices typically work under controlled environment and constrained acquisition conditions. In this paper, the adaption of iris biometrics for unconstrained, hand-held devices such as smartphones is investigated. A prototype device is presented with full system description. This device is equipped with a single image sensor with both visible and NIR sensing capabilities. The device is analysed in terms of its optical properties and iris imaging capabilities. Preliminary results indicate that there are challenges to achieve a reliable recognition performance from the images captured using this device. Current system acquires images with marginal optical quality and spatial resolution in an unconstrained acquisition scenario for iris recognition. Nevertheless, the analyses presented in this paper indicate a similar camera module with improved optics and sensor could combine iris biometrics with conventional front camera functions such as video call and the capture of selfie images.