Multi-modal Biometrics

Applications that combine more than one biometric to improve accuracy and reduce the possibility of spoofing are referred to as multi-modal biometrics. These systems may use multiple biometrics for additional levels of security (requiring a match within threshold levels on more than one biometric), or as an alternative (to deal with problems of failure to enroll, or provide a fallback measure at the time of matching). Such systems are likely only to be required where accuracy issues are paramount, as the overall cost of deploying multiple technologies and collecting multiple biometrics is very high.

A number of programs sponsored by governments around the world are being developed with multiple biometrics, most commonly, a combination of facial recognition (which, when digital photographs are obtained for biometric recognition, also serve as a visual cue on ID documents) in conjunction with another biometric such as fingerprint or iris recognition. Collecting multiple biometrics also provides for situations where an individual may suffer some physical injury that makes one biometric unusable at a later time.

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