In-field Remote Fingerprint Authentication using Human Body Communication and On-Hub Analytics

TL;DR

This paper presents an energy-efficient, in-field fingerprint authentication system utilizing human body communication and on-hub analytics, designed for secure, remote access in tactical environments like battlefields.

Contribution

It introduces an integrated system combining wearable fingerprint sensors, optimized resource allocation, and HBC for secure, energy-efficient remote authentication in mobile scenarios.

Findings

Prototype demonstrates feasibility of in-field fingerprint authentication.

HBC enables low-energy, long-range data transfer.

Optimized resource allocation extends sensor lifetime.

Abstract

In this emerging data-driven world, secure and ubiquitous authentication mechanisms are necessary prior to any confidential information delivery. Biometric authentication has been widely adopted as it provides a unique and non-transferable solution for user authentication. In this article, the authors envision the need for an in-field, remote and on-demand authentication system for a highly mobile and tactical environment, such as critical information delivery to soldiers in a battlefield. Fingerprint-based in-field biometric authentication combined with the conventional password-based techniques would ensure strong security of critical information delivery. The proposed in-field fingerprint authentication system involves: (i) wearable fingerprint sensor, (ii) template extraction (TE) algorithm, (iii) data encryption, (iv) on-body and long-range communications, all of which are subject to energy constraints due to the requirement of small form-factor wearable devices. This paper explores the design space and provides an optimized solution for resource allocation to enable energy-efficient in-field fingerprint-based authentication. Using Human Body Communication (HBC) for the on-body data transfer along with the analytics (TE algorithm) on the hub allows for the maximum lifetime of the energy-sparse sensor. A custom-built hardware prototype using COTS components demonstrates the feasibility of the in-field fingerprint authentication framework.