The UIDAI has successfully conducted the proof of concept iris authentication study in Mysore district of Karnataka. The study presented the high accuracy levels (above 99.2%) which can be achieved by iris authentication. Keeping with UIDAI’s practice of conducting Proof of Concept (PoC) studies before launching any service, a PoC has been conducted to identify optimal authentication setups for online iris authentication.
The PoC was conducted in Nanjangud taluk in Mysore district of Karnataka, which is a semi urban setting, between May 27th and July 30th 2012. The study sample consisted of 215,342 iris authentication transactions from 5833 residents. There were 8 models of iris cameras by 6 different original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who participated in this study.
This study has recognised specific areas for improvement for the biometric ecosystem to further improve its accuracy and coverage percentage. The detailed findings of the study have been documented in a report which will be published on UIDAI’s website. There will also be a workshop to guide the device vendors on ways to improve their devices and algorithms. This will be followed by further field studies to set up device specifications for iris devices for purposes of certifications and deployment.
There was a marked improvement in the finger print authentication system from the first PoC to the last PoC. The same is expected from the PoC conducted for iris authentication which has a scope of providing accuracy levels of 99.5%