Mitigation of Contact Lenses, Eye Surgery, Pupil Dilation, and Other Challenges in Iris Recognition

Iris recognition is an established and successful biometric technology. It is used in clearing travelers in the UK, for border control in the UAE, and as a part of India`s Unique ID program. However, there are still significant challenges to be addressed as iris recognition matures to successfully handle ongoing national-scale applications. Our recent work has documented challenges involving pupil dilation, the wearing of contact lenses, and other factors. We propose to conduct research that (a) creates a better understanding of the challenges that pupil dilation, contact lenses, and Lasik operations present for iris recognition performance, and (b) based on this understanding, develops algorithms and approaches to mitigate the effects of these challenges. We will conduct iris recognition experiments and analyze the results in order to document the effects of dilation, contact lenses and Lasik, and to understand how the range of how these factors present themselves in different instances. We will then develop and implement algorithms and approaches to mitigate the effects of these factors, and perform experiments that document and measure the improvement in iris recognition performance. We expect that solutions such as those that we develop will become a standard element of all commercial iris biometric systems.