Iris recognition on the go

Published 12 April 2011

Hoyos showed its iris-recognition-on-the-go solution at ISC West last week; most iris recognition solution require the persons to be identified to stand still and stare into a panel for a couple of seconds; the Hoyos solution allows people, after the initial enrollment, to just walk through a gate or a door; the iris scanner is mounted at the top of the frame, and it can recognize up to fifty individuals a minute as they walk through; individuals wearing glasses enroll without their glasses on, but once enrolled, they can walk through the door with their glasses on without disrupting the system’s recognition process

One of the many exhibits at last week’s ISC West show in Las Vegas was a go-through iris recognition gate manufactured by Hoyos Corporation and distributed by Stanley CSS (Stanley has signed an agreement with Hoyos to become its exclusive U.S. and European distributor).

People associate iris recognition technology with people having to stand still and point their fact toward a glass panel. The Hoyos solution is different, and the company says that one of its main advantages is throughput.

The iris scanner can be mounted at the top of the door frame or another gate-like frame and, according to the company, can process up to fifty persons a minute. As important, the individuals being scanned do not have to stop and stare at a glass panel: they just walk through the gate and are being scanned on the go.

Stanley CSS’ Tony Byerly told Securityinformationwatch that that from a customer perspective, this is about as non-intrusive as you can get for biometric-based area access. Users testing out the system at ISC West were enrolled without their eyeglasses and without earrings, but when using the system for entry control, eye glasses and even sunglasses could be worn without causing the system difficulty (it appears that polarized sunglasses are the only type of glasses that can cause problems). To demonstrate the system, visitors lined up and walked steadily through the entryway, and the system easily recognized each person, granting access permission by name as the persons in the line moved fairly quickly under the doorway.

Securityinformationwatch notes that Hoyos was also showing other products in addition to the larger portal reader units. There was an iris recognition reader not much larger than a set of safety goggles, and on the way was a USB-connected unit that could be used for iris-based network or even secure website access at home or at your desk.