Fingerprint images enhancement using diffusion tensor

Abstract

Fingerprints are the oldest and most widely used form of biometric identification. However, their image contrast is poor due to skin conditions and application of incorrect finger pressure. Fingerprint enhancement is necessary to ensure the performance and robustness of the algorithms for fingerprint recognition. In this work, we present a fast fingerprint enhancement method based on the diffusion tensor which allows a better performance than a simple gradient. The performance and efficiency of the algorithm are estimated by calculating various quality metrics and compared with the advanced met.