Significant advances continue to be made in biometric technology. However, the global war on terrorism and our
increasingly electronic society have created the societal need for large-scale, interoperable biometric capabilities that
challenge the capabilities of current off-the-shelf technology. At the same time, there are concerns that large-scale
implementation of biometrics will infringe our civil liberties and offer increased opportunities for identity theft. This
paper looks beyond the basic science and engineering of biometric sensors and fundamental matching algorithms and
offers approaches for achieving greater performance and acceptability of applications enabled with currently available
biometric technologies. The discussion focuses on three primary biometric system aspects: performance and scalability,
interoperability, and cost benefit. Significant improvements in system performance and scalability can be achieved
through careful consideration of the following elements: biometric data quality, human factors, operational
environment, workflow, multibiometric fusion, and integrated performance modeling. Application interoperability
hinges upon some of the factors noted above as well as adherence to interface, data, and performance standards.
However, there are times when the price of conforming to such standards can be decreased local system performance.
The development of biometric performance-based cost benefit models can help determine realistic requirements and
acceptable designs.
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