Biometrics meet mobile phone technology

Having difficulties monitoring the attendance of employees working in a remote location? Unable to ascertain how many students have opted for mid-day meals in one cafeteria on campus rather than another one? The Hyderabad-based Infronics Systems (formerly Suchinfotech) has created a new solution for coping with such problems. The device is called BioMoRF and it combines three technologies: Biometrics or body measurements for identification; radio frequency identification (RFID) for storage and retrieval of data; and the Global System for Mobile Communication or GSM for mobility. According to Infronics chief M. S. Raju, BioMoRF can be installed in offices, cafeterias, study halls, and even remote locations such as mines. One has to prepare a database of the employees, students, or others and feed it to a centralized server. When the user puts his finger print on the terminal, it generates an SMS message and sends it to the central database for authentication in real time.

BioMoRF can be used to control access to information or buildings, restrict the usage to specific category of users, and maintain constant surveillance over the desired location. Unlike other access control applications such as smart cards or swipe cards, the device prevents frauds. It can be used either as a standalone or can be networked and can be adapted for other biometric parameters. The makers have applied for a patent.