Basics of Biometrics
Biometrics is defined as “The application of computational methods to biological features, especially with regard to the study of unique biological characteristics of humans”.
Enrollment
Enrollment is when a digital copy of the individual's biometric information is created. The digital copy is called a template and it can be stored for example locally on a computer, on a server or on a smart card.Identification
Identification is used to determine who an individual is. Identification is conducted by comparing the individual's biometric sample with a database of stored templates. This method can be timeconsuming since the databases can be big and contain millions of templates and the risk for error is larger compared to verification. This method is also called one-to-many matching and is often used for identifying criminals.Verification
Verification is used to determine if an individual is who he/she claims to be. Verification works just like identification but the difference is that the individual's sample is only compared with the template originally stored by the genuine individual (upon enrollment)FTE
Failure To Enroll - FTE is a metric that shows the percentage of failed enrollment attempts.FTA
Failure To Aquire - FTA is a metric that shows the ratio of failed sample collections (for enrollment or matching purposes) in a biometric systemFRR
False Rejection Rate - FRR is a metric that shows the ratio of individuals who has been falsely non matched (rejected when they should have been accepted) by the biometric system.
