A new sensor/scanner of fingerprint with ultrasounds measures a 3D picture of the surface of the figure the tissue below it, aspiring to bring a dramatic improvement on the field of biometric security systems and also on information security for smartphones and other similar devices.
The technology that is used today on smartphones, like the iPhone 6 produces a two-dimensional of the surface of a finger, something that can be also produced through a printed image of a fingerprint and as you can understand, this creates some security issues. This new sensor, which was developed by American developers, solves this problem, by recording/mapping all the “slopes” and “valleys” of a fingerprint, as well as the tissue below that, in all 3 dimensions.
The use of security codes for smartphones was a great security issue, so researchers predicted that a more biometric solution would come. Professor David A. Horsley, who is the head of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering as well as the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Centre (UC Davis), at the University of California, and his colleagues, describe the technology mentioned above on a publication on the Applied Physics Letters. The “roots” can be found in 2007, when teams of the research centre worked together on a research on PMUT (Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers).
The basic principles of this technology that the researchers have developed, are equivalent to those of ultrasound technology that is used in Medicine. They created a microscopic ultrasound imager, designed to ransack only a thin layer of tissue, based on a series of MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) ultrasound devices, with 1,8 Volt.
Beyond the biometrics and the information security, this technology is also going to be used on various Medicine fields. And then there are also all those fields that it can (and will) be used that scientists haven’t thought about yet. What we expect to see is not only how this interesting new technology innovation is applied, but also how it is being used and by whom.
The whom part is more interesting because in the case of securing sensitive personal information on smartphones, regular users that know only the basics should be able to use such a technology, which means that apps will have to be made that maintain a user friendly environment.
So as you can see for yourself, we will probably hear again from those researchers. Until then stay tuned and read all the latest news on this, and many other hot topics!
Last Modified: Mar 26, 2019