Fx3100 - Fingerprint scanner Match on Board |
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Fx3100 is a new smart scanner capable of processing and recognizing fingerprints on board (Match-on-Board). The PC connected to the scanner is not involved in processing the biometric data: images and templates of the users are not transferred to the PC, thus increasing security and privacy. Fx3100 can store internally, in a safe area, templates, files and passwords and is able to perform cryptographic operations. Fx3100 is the ideal solution for digital signature (biometrically enabled) applications: the PC sends to the scanner the document to sign, specifying which certificate is to use; access to the private signature key is granted once the user has been authenticated by his/her fingerprint. Fx3100 is the ideal solution also for Single Sign-On (or “passwords bank”) applications, as it can store internally, in the safe area, the passwords that have to be provided to third party applications once the user has been biometrically authenticated.
Brochure (PDF format). Large sensing area (17.8 x 25 mm2) and high resolution (569 dpi)
These features have to be carefully considered when
evaluating the quality of a fingerprint scanner. In fact, a large sensing
area improves recognition performance since a larger number of minutiae
can be detected (see minutiae)
and the overlapping area of two fingerprint images, taken in different
moments, is significantly maximized. This increases the overall accuracy
(smaller FAR) and, above all, greatly reduces the false rejections (FRR)
caused by incorrect finger placements. Furthermore, the higher is the
resolution, the more details can be located in the fingerprint
pattern.
The picture shows, at the same scale,
three images from the same finger: one captured by Fx3100 (on the left:
560x400 pixel, 569 dpi), one by Fx2000 (in the
middle: 560x296 pixel, 569 dpi) and one by a
typical solid-state capacitive scanner (on the right: 96x96 pixel, 250 dpi).
Please, refer to "A technical evaluation of fingerprint scanners" for more technical details on this topic.
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Match On Board
Most of the match-on-board and match-on-card solutions available on the market are characterized by a low computational power that determines a loss of accuracy (more false rejections and false acceptances) with respect to the systems that match fingerprint images on a PC. On the contrary, Fx3100 is equipped with a powerful microprocessor (RISC 32-bit, 200 MHz, core ARM9) and with 32 MB of RAM; this allows accurate on-board fingerprint matching to be performed in less than 1 second.
Storage
Fx3100 is equipped with 8MB of flash memory, where it is possible to store numerical data (called templates) extracted from the users’ fingerprints. It is also possible to save digital certificates (x509), passwords (Single Sign-On) and other user’s files. By exploiting all the available room it is possible to store on board up to 1500 templates.
Encryption and Digital Signature
Fx3100 has several cryptographic capabilities. The communications between the scanner and the PC are encrypted (128 bit), by using a SSL-like protocol which negotiates session keys. The scanner can internally generate pairs of asymmetric keys (RSA) and export (in x509 format) the related certificate. Fx3100 can digitally sign (RSA) a document by using a private key (stored internally or on a smart card) once the key owner has been biometrically authenticated.
Security and Privacy
Fx3100 performs on board those biometric or cryptographic operations that, if performed on PC could be feasible of attacks or interceptions. This boosts safety and privacy, as the biometric data never leaves the scanner (unless explicitly required by the user)
Integration and Development (SDK)
Fx3100 can be integrated in third party applications with FxISO SDK: fully supports Fx2100, HiScan and Fx3100. In case of Fx2100 and HiScan, the scanner can only acquire fingerprint images and FxISO SDK has to perform the fingerprint recognition on the PC. With Fx3100, the developer can either match fingerprint images on a PC (by using Fx3100 in Fx2100 compliant way) or exploit the new match on board capabilities of Fx3100.
Smart Card
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The Fx3100 scanner is available also as
SC version (with an integrated Smart Card
reader). The reader is detected by the Operating System as a
standard PC/SC device and can be used by every application (third
party also) to read/write most of the existing Smart Cards and
Memory Cards. Fx3100 SC is a very cost-effective solution for
applications requiring to store biometric templates on Smart Cards
released to the users (max. privacy), and in secure applications of
Digital
Signature. |
TWAIN Driver
Fx3100 driver also provides a TWAIN interface that enables the acquisition of fingerprint images through any software that supports this standard interface. Once installed, Fx3100 can be selected as a TWAIN image source from any application that supports the TWAIN interface.