Vein matching

Vein matching, also called vascular technology, is a technique of biometric identification through the analysis of the patterns of blood vessels visible from the surface of the skin. Though used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, this method of identification is still in development and has not yet been universally adopted by crime labs as it is not considered as reliable as more established techniques, such as fingerprinting. However, it can be used in conjunction with existing forensic data in support of a conclusion. While other types of biometric scanners are more widely employed in security systems, vascular scanners are growing in popularity. Fingerprint scanners are more frequently used, but they generally do not provide enough data points for critical verification decisions. Since fingerprint scanners require direct contact of the finger with the scanner, dry or abraded skin can interfere with the reliability of the system. Skin diseases, such as psoriasis, can also limit the accuracy of the scanner, not to mention direct contact with the scanner can result in need for more frequent cleaning and higher risk of equipment damage. On the other hand, vascular scanners do not require contact with the scanner, and since the information they read is on the inside of the body, skin conditions do not affect the accuracy of the reading. Vascular scanners also work very quickly, scanning in less than a second. As they scan, they capture the unique pattern formed by veins as they branch through the hand. The retinal scanner is more reliable than the vascular scanner, but is less widely used because of its intrusive nature. People generally are uncomfortable exposing their eyes to an unfamiliar source of light, and retinal scanners are more difficult to install than vascular scanning equipment, since variations in angle of height and face in relation to the device must be accounted for. Joe Rice, an automation controls engineer at Kodak's Annesley factory, invented vein pattern recognition in the early 1980s in response to his bank cards and identity being stolen.