(USA)
A person’s voice and finger vibrations are being used to provide secure and easy access to homes and devices.
Innovators Magazine reported earlier this month that a team from the University of Michigan (U-M) has built a wearable which provides additional verification to voice-activated products, to combat the threat of impersonators and hackers. Called VAuth, it ‘monitors the vibrations generated when a person speaks, on the face, throat or chest, and works by matching the signals from the accelerometer in the wearable security token and the microphone in the electronic device’.
Now engineers at America’s Rutgers University have built a smart entry system, named VibWrite, which similarly picks up the unique vibrations of an individual to trigger it, and operates on any hard surface. In tests, VibWrite recorded accuracy levels of more than 95%. The simple and low-cost innovation harnesses a ‘touch-sensing technique by using vibration signals’.
“Everyone’s finger bone structure is unique, and their fingers apply different pressures on surfaces, so sensors that detect subtle physiological and behavioral differences can identify and authenticate a person,” explained Yingying (Jennifer) Chen, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
VibWrite doesn’t need expensive software and can easily transform hard surfaces into and ‘authentication surface’ with an ‘inexpensive vibration motor and receiver’.
“VibWrite probably could be commercialized in a couple of years,” added Chen.
First the team says it has to make improvements to the hardware and authentication algorithms, and carry out further testing to ensure it can function reliably in different climactic and environmental conditions.
