Biometric data acquisition using MATLAB GUIs

The use of iris patterns, fingerprints, facial characteristics and other biometrics for identification is becoming more common every day. This has led to the incorporation of biometric topics in courses at many colleges throughout the world. Developing practical laboratory exercises to augment course lectures is enhanced when the students have the ability to work with actual biometric data. Although the hardware for using biometrics is available at a reasonable cost, most commercial products do not readily output the raw data that is desired for laboratory or research environments. Even if the data can be acquired, a system of storage and retrieval that incorporates unique information related to the data is needed. Finally, the acquisition of biometric data introduces human research and privacy concerns that must be addressed by the institution. Using MATLAB with its image acquisition toolbox, we have developed a system to easily capture biometrics and store them with pertinent information for laboratory exercises, student research and faculty research. We discuss the concerns involving human subjects and privacy, the challenges associated with developing a biometric database, and one solution to acquiring biometric data for use in student laboratories