Definition of Biometrics
Biometrics is the study of automated methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. It comes out from the ancient greek word "Bios" and "Metron", meaning Life and measure.It directly translates into "Life Measurement".
NFC Magazine
General science has included biometrics as a field of statistical development since the early twentieth century. A very good example is the statistical analysis of data from agricultural field experiments comparing the yields of different varieties of wheat. In this way, science is taking a life measurement of the agriculture to ultimately determine more efficient methods of growth.
Biometrics technologies measure a particular set of a person's vital statistics in order to determine identity.
In the most contemporary computer science applications, the term "life measurement" adapts a slightly different role. Biometrics in the high technology sector refers to a particular class of identification technologies. These technologies use an individual's unique biological traits to determine one's identity. The traits that are considered include fingerprints, retina and iris patterns,facial characteristics and many more.
In information technology, biometric authentication refers to technologies that measure and analyze human physical and behavioral characteristics for authentication purposes. Examples of physical characteristics include fingerprints, eye retinas and irises, facial patterns and hand measurements, while examples of mostly behavioral characteristics include signature, gait and typing patterns. Voice is considered a mix of both physical and behavioural characteristics. However, it can be argued that all biometric traits share physical and behavioral aspects.
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