Detailed Analysis of Footprint Geometry for Person Identification

Abstract

In this article we propose a novel biometric identification method using Footprint. A paper scanner was used to obtain images to uniquely identify the person. 312 footprint images from 78 persons(2 samples each foot) were analyzed, leading to the conclusion that footprints could also be used to identify human. Physiological and behavioral biometric characteristics make it a great alternative to computational intensive algorithms like fingerprint, palm print, retina or iris scan, and face. Foot biometric is also a great alternative. In spite of having minutia features (considered totally unique and already tested in fingerprint) it also has geometric features like hand geometry which give satisfactory results in recognition.We have computed province, major axis, minor axis, eccentricity in one approach, where a foot is divided into 15 equal sized boxes in another shape-based algorithm. This article also examines the texture features of the foot. It could be applied at those places where people inherently remove their shoes, such as holy places(temples and mosque). They remove shoes at famous monuments such as The Taj Mahal, India from the perspective of hygiene and preservation. Usually, these places are with a strong foot fall and high-risk security due to the chaotic crowd. It could also be employed in newborn authentication and identification. Uniqueness of minutiae foot-print in newborns has been already proved.