Builders use fingerprint recognition

Technology developed at Warwick University can identify partial, distorted, scratched, smudged, or otherwise warped fingerprints in just a few seconds.

The technology is being rapidly taken up by the UK building trade, who now have fingerprint recognition technology for worksite access that can cope with builders' often worn and ravaged thumbprints.

Many other fingerprint techniques have tried to identify a few key features on a finger print and laboriously match them against a database of templates. The Warwick researchers consider the entire detailed pattern of each print and transform the topological pattern into a standard co-ordinate system.

This allows the researchers to 'unwarp' any fingerprint that has been distorted by smudging, uneven pressure, or other distortion and create a clear digital representation of the fingerprint that can then be mapped on to an 'image space' of all other fingerprints held on a database.