New advance in fingerprinting: contactless fingerprint technology

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed a device for contactless fingerprinting. The technology uses optical coherence tomography (OCT).  Think of OCT as an optical ultrasound, using light to capture the biometric image of a fingerprint. 

OCT captures subsurface as well as surface information, scanning a fingerprint internally as well as externally. These hybrid images are higher in resolution and capture more detail. This technology will make it easier to detect fake prints. 

At a crime scene, an OCT device will capture more information on live and latent fingerprints (seen and unseen prints). OCT scanning doesn’t destroy DNA evidence. It doesn’t require dusting, therefore it won't contamination the crime scene. Other interesting benefits, it can detect sweat glands, and also whether the subject is dead or alive.

Acquiring fingerprints without touch is more accurate in that the process doesn’t distort prints, as happens with the slight finger pressure used in traditional fingerprint scanning. OCT fingerprinting is more tamper-proof, more hygienic, and doesn’t leave fingerprint residue behind on a scanner surface.

OCT is currently used in the medical fields of ophthalmology and dermatology. Now with contactless fingerprinting, it will help advance the fields of law enforcement and forensics.



Council for Scientific and Industrial Research develops contactless fingerprinting device

Justin Lee for BiometricUpdate.com, September 22, 2016



CSIR develops hi-tech contactless fingerprint device

Staff Writer, ITWeb, Johannesburg, 21 Sep 2016