fingerprinting technique is professors research topic
An RIT scientist with
a passion for ultrasound is applying his medical imaging know-how
to help a Buffalo-based company fine-tune its unique fingerprinting-identification
students Laura Blair and Raj Panandiker work on the ultrasonic
fingerprint scanner developed by Ultra-Scan Corp.
Navalgund Rao, associate
professor in RITs Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging
Science, has teamed up with Ultra-Scan Corp., the maker of ultrasonic
finger scanners for companies and government agencies. Raos
work will help Ultra-Scan create test procedures used to verify
compliance of standards issued by the U.S. Department of Justice
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ultrasound, also known
as ultrasonics, uses high-frequency sound waves to read information
through barriers. The technology is commonly used to scan the
ocean floor, to see beneath the earths surface
in search of gas and oil, and to monitor the development of a
Ultra-Scan uses ultrasound
to read fingerprints. The technologys accuracy surpasses
other methods of fingerprinting such as optical imaging
and the old inkpad method because sound waves can pierce
through grease and dirt that could obscure a reading.
Rao, whose regular
research interests apply ultrasonic imaging to medical diagnostics,
entered the project by way of happenstance and a bit of Internet
I was searching
on the Internet to see who was working on ultrasound, Rao
says. I came across their Web page. He contacted John
Schneider, the chief technology officer at Ultra-Scan, who also
was looking for an ultrasound physicist to work with him on problems
that his company lacked the time to investigate.
The collaborative project
was made possible by a $30,000 Center for Advanced Technology
grant administered by the Center for Electronic Imaging Systems,
the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic
Research, and matching contributions from Ultra-Scan.