Wavefront Biometric Technologies developing cornea-based biometric technology

Wavefront Biometric Technologies is awaiting a patent for its cornea-based biometric technology, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald.

The startup managed to secure a $450,000 loan from mining company Nemex Resources to complete the testing of four prototypes which it developed to show how corneal matching could be applied to a live environment in February.

Just eight months prior, Nemex Resources completed an initial investment of $700,000 to acquire a 30% stake in Wavefront Biometric Technologies, with the option to increase its share to 51%.

Wavefront’s technology, which is based on the reflection from the outer surface of the eye’s cornea, relies on software that can rapidly compare the unique corneal maps of an individual.

To put the magnitude of this process into perspective, a complete corneal map requires 9,000 data points.

“The tricky part was delivering the algorithm to accurately compare them,” said Stephen Mason, head of R&D of ophthalmic biometric security technology for Wavefront Biometric Technologies. “When you took an image of the eye and then took it a few minutes later the numbers were ever so slightly different. But put two maps of the eye into a database and compare the whole database you should always match yourself best.”

Since there is never an exact match in the comparing of cornea maps, Mason said the biometric databases are “much harder to compromise.”

The startup has overlaid methods to make it extremely difficult for a third party to predict what part of the spreadsheet Wavefront will use next for identification purposes.

Wavefront has also constructed a device that resembles “a webcam that sits on top of a Microsoft Surface Pro to enrol and then to authenticate the identity,” with plans to commercialize it later this year, said Mason.

Article Topics

Australia  |  biometrics  |  cornea  |  eyeprint  |  patents  |  Wavefront Biometric Technologies