  We present the design and manufacturing of high fidelity universal 3D
fingerprint targets, which can be imaged on a variety of fingerprint sensing
technologies, namely capacitive, contact-optical, and contactless-optical.
Universal 3D fingerprint targets enable, for the first time, not only a
repeatable and controlled evaluation of fingerprint readers, but also the
ability to conduct fingerprint reader interoperability studies. Fingerprint
reader interoperability refers to how robust fingerprint recognition systems
are to variations in the images acquired by different types of fingerprint
readers. To build universal 3D fingerprint targets, we adopt a molding and
casting framework consisting of (i) digital mapping of fingerprint images to a
negative mold, (ii) CAD modeling a scaffolding system to hold the negative
mold, (iii) fabricating the mold and scaffolding system with a high resolution
3D printer, (iv) producing or mixing a material with similar electrical,
optical, and mechanical properties to that of the human finger, and (v)
fabricating a 3D fingerprint target using controlled casting. Our experiments
conducted with PIV and Appendix F certified optical (contact and contactless)
and capacitive fingerprint readers demonstrate the usefulness of universal 3D
fingerprint targets for controlled and repeatable fingerprint reader
evaluations and also fingerprint reader interoperability studies.
