Lumidigm's I-Series sensor won an R&D 100 award this year.

No Muss, No Fuss Fingerprint ID

October / November 07 By: Sherry Robinson Volume 5 Number 5

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Watching TV cop shows, we learned that fingerprints are a sure-fire way to identify somebody. Now, in an age of identity theft and need for tighter security, fingerprint identification has evolved from inky smudges to various technologies.

But most existing technologies aren't reliable. Dry, dirty or sweaty skin can affect the image. Many sensors are easy to spoof, or they're vulnerable to environmental effects like heat, dust or moisture.

A new kind of fingerprint sensor, developed by biometrics startup Lumidigm Inc., uses multispectral imaging to shine light into a finger and read images from the surface and subsurface of the skin. The result is a clear image under any condition.

"The surface fingerprint features are mimicked by the capillary system just under the skin," said Rob Rowe, chief technology officer. "We can identify people in a way that's convenient and cost effective."

Because the device can see the capillary system under the skin, the system can't be deceived by a prosthetic finger, a digit taken from a corpse or a finger covered by a material imprinted with a different fingerprint.

"Our design works with everyone, and it works every time," says vice president Bill Spence, who demonstrated both the Lumidigm and conventional technologies for this writer. Dry and wet skin yield poor images on the conventional device, as does skin smeared with powder; Lumidigm's sensor reads each image with clarity.

The technology has been used by the government for high-security building access and last year Disney World installed Lumidigm technology on its gates to make sure multi-entry ticket holders aren't sharing their privileges. The company needed reliable, robust technology that could also withstand blasts of water used to clean the entry gates.

"Biometrics is the art of driving higher security with more convenience," Spence said. It's a good point: A difficult device won't get used. Or purchased.

Lumidigm, based in Albuquerque, is a spinoff of a spinout. Its parent company is Inlight Solutions, which is developing noninvasive glucose monitoring equipment from technology spun out of Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. When Inlight's scientists discovered that light passes through every individual's skin differently, they saw potential for identification technology. InLight spun off Lumidigm as a separate, privately held company in 2001. Currently it has 30 employees and revenues of $2 million a year.

Lumidigm offers the original J-Series sensor, released in 2006, and the recently introduced and lower-cost Venus Series sensors and OEM modules. Its J-Series sensor received a 2007 R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine, which each year recognizes the 100 most significant technological projects.

The company has received other national and local honors, including the Tibbetts Award in 2006 for commercializing technology developed with public funds from the Small Business Innovation Research program. Describing the Disney World project, the award announcement said: "The sensors are unattended, and the users are untrained. The results have been spectacular. There has been universal verification, with no inconvenience to the authorized user."

The company is focusing on such other high-security applications as ports and border crossings, says CEO Bob Harbour. Lumidigm has federal funding to develop a whole-hand biometric with the accuracy of an iris scan. It would include an outline, palm print, four finger prints and skin-tissue properties.

"We're pretty excited about that," says Harbour. "We've got ideas beyond that, such as skin tissue-based technology that can be used in consumer products.
We're not a one-trick pony. We have an entire platform of multispectral technology. The next step for the company is to make derivative Venus products tailored to specific market segments."

This will mean more mobile, smaller and less expensive products in the near term and miniaturized products later on.

Another recent development is a partnership with Keico Hightech Inc. Lumidigm will provide fingerprint sensors to Keico, the Korean pioneer of security and computer-access control and will, in turn, gain a worldwide distribution channel and partner.

Lumidigm is in line for a $2 million contract to provide devices to the military's Biometrics Automated Toolset (BAT) program, which maintains a database of terrorists, insurgents, local workers and detainees. Funding depends on final approval of the defense budget.

"We have been working closely with Lumidigm as they develop a rugged, portable and affordable fingerprint scanner for military and law enforcement field applications," said Kathy DeBolt, BAT program manager. She expects prototypes to be deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq for field testing.

Unlike most startups, Lumidigm hasn't struggled to attract financing. Since 2002 it's raised $13.4 million in venture capital from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Fort Washington Capital Partners, Intel Capital, International Venture Fund, Motorola Ventures, Solstice Capital and Wasatch Venture Fund. 

"We're blessed with quality support from our venture capital board," Harbour says. "We've been very efficient in how we use our investors' money."

The company has attracted research funding from such government agencies as the CIA and the National Security Administration and has had joint projects with the Air Force and other Department of Defense agencies.

Lumidigm has also received funding for product development and market studies from the Office of Technology Transfer at California State University, San Bernardino. The OTTC administers Defense Department funds awarded through the Center for Commercialization for Advanced Technology (CCAT).

"We really act as a commercialization service," says OTTC director Tim Gerrity. "We take fairly raw technologies coming out of the universities and government laboratories and identify the potential for military use and commercialization. We develop a plan we believe will provide a boost for them to get additional funding."

The application process, which examines the technological viability, the management team and the intellectual property protection, is so competitive that only a few are chosen. That Lumidigm has won three awards speaks well of the company, he says. "We're very delighted with Lumidigm."

Sherry Robinson is a freelance writer based in Albuquerque.