Fingerprint Quality: a Lifetime Story

Currently, it is a largely accepted fact that biometric sample quality is the most determinant factor to achieve high recognition accuracy in biometric systems. However, even in extensively researched characteristics such as fingerprints, there is still a lack of evidence on how quality evolves throughout the life of an individual. For instance, how does the quality of children fingerprints compare to that of adults or elders? Do these changes imply any age limits for the use of fingerprints with current technology? The present paper addresses this key problem based on a database of over 400K fingerprints coming from more than 250K different fingers. The database was acquired under real operational conditions and contains fingerprints from subjects aged between 0 and 98 years. Such a unique set of data has allowed us to analyse for the first time how fingerprint quality changes through life.