Iris Integrated Mobile Devices to Address Aadhaar Authentication Failures

Delta ID Inc., a leader in consumer-grade iris scanning technology for mobile devices, believes the high failure rates in Aadhaar biometric authentication, as recently reported in MGNREGA tests in Telangana, will be addressed in a cost-effective way with the iris integrated mobile devices.

“We believe iris integrated smartphones and tablets will address the issues reported with Aadhaar biometric authentication,” said Dr. Salil Prabhakar, President and CEO of Delta ID Inc., “The UIDAI and the worldwide biometric community have tested and found iris to have better reliability. We are confident the failure rates will be drastically lower once the cheaper iris integrated mobile devices are adopted in the market.”

With the government mandating the use of Aadhaar biometric authentication in more social and other programs, the need for a biometric modality that works reliably is critical. Unlike fingerprints that are being reported to show high failure rates due to wear and tear, the iris, being a protected internal organ, is expected to be significantly more reliable. Additionally, since the iris is not affected with age, it works reliably across all age groups.

One of the key impediments in wide-scale roll out of iris for Aadhaar has been the high cost of iris devices. This is being addressed with the rollout of iris integrated mobile devices. Samsung partnered with Delta ID to launch India’s first iris integrated tablet in May 2016. The technology is arriving in smartphones too, and not only in high end devices such as Samsung Galaxy S8, but also in low cost smartphones from Indian manufacturers.

Delta ID has made remarkable advances in bringing iris technology to consumer mobile devices and applications. Delta ID’s ActiveIRIS® technology has passed STQC’s FRR test with better than 99% accuracy, and has been certified by the STQC. ActiveIRIS and a combination of STQC certified hardware components can be integrated by any mobile device to expeditiously introduce iris integrated mobile devices in the market.