Evolving sensors
In developments that could help the system-level vision jell, developers of silicon fingerprint sensors have cut prices and and accelerated the devices' scan times. "The biometric fingerprint sensors that used to cost $50 now cost less than $6," said Jim Burke, vice president of sensor maker AuthenTec Inc. (Melbourne, Fla.). "That's one of the results of applying consumer math to biometrics."
Indeed, manufacturers say that the building-security business can best grow by riding the coattails of the consumer market. AuthenTec, for example, claims that its biggest users of fingerprint sensors are makers of PDAs, followed by PCs. Building-access controls are a distant third.
Moore's Law is helping drive down processor-based sensor pricing. Analog Devices supplies a 400-MHz Blackfin processor, which offers 16-bit DSP performance and 32-bit RISC extensions, for about $5. The devices are being employed in AuthenTec fingerprint sensors that go for less than $10.
AuthenTec's DSP-based system measures the electromagnetic field emitted from the ridges and valleys of the human finger, turns the values into a mathematical expression and stores the expression in a database. Later, the DSP's real value comes into play when the system reads a new fingerprint and tries to match it against those stored previously. Engineers say the goal for such a system is to produce matches in less than 500 milliseconds. Any longer than that is considered too slow for practical use.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
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