Avion Solutions uses Hitachi finger vein reader during blood drive

Engineering and technology firm Avion Solutions recently used a finger vein reader it developed with Hitachi to identify blood donors during its blood drive at its Huntsville, Alabama-based headquarters, according to a report by WHNT News.

Avion Solutions Inc. partnered with Hitachi, Ltd. to develop BIT (Biometric Identification Tool), which enables blood providers to verify the identity of donors using the unique vein patterns found in the individual’s finger, to ultimately create a seamless experience.

The recently completed a successful BIT pilot test at Blood Assurance to verify the identity of donors at registration, allowing the organization to keep accurate records of life-saving donated blood.

Instead of having to repeatedly present their driver’s license and fill out the same paperwork, donors will now be able to register their biometrics which will be linked with their records.

For subsequent visits, donors will be able to simply use their finger to identify themselves.

“The way it works is, there is an infrared light in the finger vein reader that will illuminate the hemoglobin inside your finger and there’s a camera on the bottom that will take a picture of the vein pattern within your finger,” said Gena Hayes, Avion’s marketing coordinator. “So it’s much more secure than a fingerprint in that way; it’s about 99.9% accurate compared to a fingerprint which is about 95% accurate.”

The three-month Blood Assurance trial occurred at two donor locations in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

During this period, Blood Assurance enrolled over 600 donors with zero errors. The results of the user survey were “overwhelmingly positive with the majority of donors finding [Hitachi’s vein reader] convenient to use and indicating that they would use it again,” Blood Assurance said in their final report to Avion.

BIT can be used with the majority of current records management system requiring positive identification.

“When our passion for serving the community combined with Blood Assurance’s successful completion of BIT’s pilot test, a blood drive was the natural event choice to launch this technology,” said Hayes. “We are excited to share this technology with our friends in Research Park in such a powerful way as to save lives.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  finger vein  |  Hitachi  |  identity verification  |  patient identification