Uniclox South Africa: FAQ : 5 : Which Biometric characteristic is "best"

Uniclox Technologies integrates digital data collection systems with your access control and HR software applications, giving your managers access to timely, accurate information straight from the shop floor.

Security Distributors & Agents Needed

Uniclox is seeking distributors, agents and installers with experience in the security sector to handle sales and technical support for specific access control and security products. Full technical training and support will be provided. Please email info@uniclox.co.za for details.

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ #5

Which Biometric characteristic is "best"

Each biometric characteristic has advantages and disadvantages. We look at four key facets:

Comfort: duration of verification and the ease of use
Accuracy: minimal error rates (clarity, consistency, measurability)
Availability: the portion of a potential user group who can use biometrics for technical recognition purposes (universal, measurable)
Costs: essentially due to the biometric capture device incl. sensors.

Note that some of the following ratings are based on current versions which could change drastically with new solutions.

Because Uniclox Technologies specialise in Time and attendance and access control, we consider the comfort and availability in the context of a working environment where most people are able-bodied. It is important to consider each application in choosing a sensor - if the access control system is for patients in a plastic surgery clinic, facial recognition would not be a good choice! Uniclox Technologies® can assist in defining the best biometric terminal/s for each customer's environment and requirements for security, convenience and maintainability.

Biometric characteristic

	Weak
	Average
	Excellent

	Comfort	Accuracy	Availability	Cost
Fingerprint
Signature (dynamic)
Facial Geometry
Iris
Hand Geometry
Proximity Card
DNA
Password

Additional considerations

In an industrial or construction environment fingertips are easily injured, dirtied or marked and the sensor would need to be cleaned regularly. In this case, hand or facial geometry would be simpler.

Fingerprint and hand geometry systems are fast, making them more suitable for large organisations. However RFID tags can be read simultaneously and are a good choice where large volumes must be handled in a peak period.

Where hygiene is important, or where religious and cultural traditions making touching offensive, a biometric sensor that does not involve touch are more appropriate.

Many people find iris recognition intrusively "big brother", and the eye is such a sensitive part of the body that many people feel uncomfortable with iris scanning particularly as the scanning process can take more than a minute.

As one can see, determining a "best" biometric characteristic is hardly possible. For biometric characteristics ranking high in accuracy, fingerprints currently have the lowest costs. DNA loses points in accuracy, because it can't differentiate between monozygotic twins today. In the end, the "best" system is the system that suits the customer's infrastructure, corporate culture and performance requirements.

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Monthly statistics

Hand: Handkey II

This month: 3
Last month: 24
Total downloads: 46
Filesize: 71.53 kb

Hand: HandPunch 1000

This month: 3
Last month: 33
Total downloads: 50
Filesize: 71.07 kb

Fingerprint: H3

This month: 2
Last month: 13
Total downloads: 68
Filesize: 83.29 kb