Document aging effects and automated security document authentication

Image quality of scanned security documents is crucial to automated authentication systems such as an automated border control (ABC) gate. Due to natural aging effects as well as unavoidable processes such as wear&tear, abrasion, graffiti, or mechanical crumpling, security documents change their appearance within an inspection system. We study the influence of those effects w.r.t. the document age on the image quality delivered by a document reader incorporated in an ABC gate. Results are presented independent from a specific authentication device making use of a number of established image quality indicators.