2015 International Conference on Pervasive Computing (ICPC)

A Review of Issues and Challenges in Designing Iris

Recognition Systems for Noisy Imaging
Environment

Kamal Hajari Kishor Bhoyar

Department of Information Technology Department of Information Technology
Student IEEE Member Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering
Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering Nagpur, India
Nagpur, India kkbhoyar@yahoo.com
kamal.o.hajari@ieee.org

Abstract I ris recognition is a challenging task in a noisy normalization and Enhancement [7]. In comparison with other
imaging environment. Nowadays researchers primary focus is to biometric traits, iris recognition has higher accuracy [8, 9].
develop reliable I ris recognition System that can work in noisy Efficiency of iris recognition system is fully determined by
imaging environment and to increase the iris recognition rate on correct pre-processing. However, there is still a scope of
different iris database. But there are major issues involved in
improvement in performance of existing preprocessing
designing such systems like occlusion by eyelashes, eyelids, glass
frames, off-angle imaging, presence of contact lenses, poor methods [10, 11]. To enhance performance of such systems,
illumination, motion blur, close-up of iris image acquired at a different researchers have proposed novel methods and
large standoff distance and specular reflections etc. Because of algorithms [12, 13].
these issues the quality of acquired iris image gets affected. The
performance of the iris based recognition system will deteriorate
abruptly, when the iris mask is not accurate. This results in lower Image Acquisition
recognition rate. I n this review paper different challenges in
designing iris recognition systems for noisy imaging environment
are reviewed and methodologies involved in overcoming these
issues are discussed. At the end, some measures to improve the
Pre-processing
accuracy of such systems are suggested.
. Noise Detection and Removal
Keywords Iris recognition; Noisy imaging environment; Noisy
artifacts; Occlusion; Specular reflection Iris Localization

I. INTRODUCTION Iris Segmentation

In the todays information technology era, Biometric
recognition systems are in widespread use and are gaining Normalization
more and more attention all over the world [1]. It exploits
discriminable behavioral or physiological characteristics to
identify a legitimate individual. The physiological features like
DNA, Iris, Retina, Palm print, face, Ear, Fingerprint and hand Iris Image Enhancement
geometry etc. are being extensively used as biometric features
to discriminate among different individuals. [2]. Among these
iris is distinct and intrinsic organ, which is externally visible Feature Extraction
and yet secured one [3]. It is well protected by the eyelid and
the cornea from environmental damage [4]. The iris
recognition process is quite complex and is divided into four
different steps i.e. pre-processing, iris image enhancement, Recognition
feature extraction and recognition as shown in Fig. 1 [5, 6]. It
is essential to pre-process the acquired iris mask image to Fig. 1 Steps of iris recognition system
obtain the desired region of interest for further processing. The
preprocessing is compartmentalized into four steps: Noise Example of such a system in action is depicted visually in Fig.
detection and removal, iris localization, iris segmentation, 2, excluding features extraction and recognition steps

978-1-4799-6272-3/15/$31.00(c)2015 IEEE
 a) CASIA v2:
The CASIA is a Chinese Academy of Science Iris database. It
first introduced in Biometrics Verification Competition (BVC)
on fingerprint, face, and iris recognition. The images are
captured using two different cameras: Iris pass-H and CASIA-
Iris Cam V2 [17].
Image Acquisition Noise Detection Localization
and Removal
b) CASIA v4:
The CASIA v4 is an extended version of CASIA-Iris v3 and
it includes six different subsets. The subsets from CASIA-Iris
v3 consist of CASIA v3-Iris-Lamp, CASIA v3-Iris-Twins and
CASIAv3-Iris-Interval.The remaining new subsets are CASIA
v4-Iris-Thousand, CASIA v4-Iris-Synthesized and CASIA v4-
Segmentation Normalization Enhanced Image Iris-Distance [17].

Fig. 2 Iris recognition system example c) MMU v1:

This paper is organized into the following sections. Section 1
gives an introductory part and importance of efficient iris
recognition system. Section 2 describes various types of Iris
datasets and noisy Imaging challenges. Section 3 presents a
detailed discussion on issues and challenges in noisy
environment. Section 4 discusses methods to address these
challenges. Section 5 discusses possible future directions.
Finally, Section 6 concludes this paper.
II. DATABASES REPORTED IN THE LITERATURE
The iris of human being is captured using standard digital
cameras. The acquired iris depicts noise characteristics
typically appliers in real time [14, 15]. The Fig. 3 shows the
list of the most used Iris datasets. These iris datasets are
extensively used in the literature.
The MMU v1 is a Multimedia University database, which is
developed using LG Iris Access 2200 and the distance range is
of 7-25 cm [18].
d ) MMU v2:
The MMU v2 database is developed using Panasonic BM-
ET100US AuthentiCam and camera and distance is 47-53 cm
away from the user. The acquired images are similar but
highly noise is added by occlusion of eyelids and eyelashes
[18].
d) UBIRIS v1:
The UBIRIS v1 database is of Soft Computing and Image
Analysis Group (SOCIA) Laboratory. The database images
consist of various noise factors because image acquisition is
performed in less constrained environments [19, 20].

e) UBIRIS v2:
UBIRIS v2 is the extended version of UBIRIS v2 database.
This database consists of large set of images with real life
noise factors as compared to its previous version. The images
(a) (b) (c) were highly degraded [21].

f) IITD:
The IIT Delhi database is created by collecting Iris image
from the students and staff at IIT Delhi in biometrics research
(d) (e) (f)
laboratory. The two cameras were used to capture the images
JIRIS, JPC1000, and digital CMOS camera. All of these
images were captured within the laboratory environments
[22].

g) Phoenix:
(g) (h) (i) Phoenix database was developed at the University of
Palackeho and Olomouc. Optometric framework (TOPCON
Fig. 3 Examples of iris image datasets (a) CASIA v2. (b) CASIA v4.
(c) MMU v1. (d) MMU v2. (e) UBIRIS v1. (f) UBIRIS v2. (g) IITD
TRC50IA) is used to capture iris. That results in high quality
(h) Phoenix (i) ND Iris images in noise-free environments [23].
h) ND Iris
ND-CrossSensor-Iris-2012 dataset is developed by Notre
Dame University. This dataset was first introduced in the
BTAS 2012 conference. The iris image is captured using
LG2200 and LG4000 iris sensors [24].
III. ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN NOISY
ENVIRONMENT
The image acquisition process affects the performance of an
iris localization and segmentation algorithms. If iris image is
acquired under ideal conditions like not occluded iris or under
proper illumination, recognition rate is increased. However,
when an iris image is acquired under non-ideal conditions then
localization and segmentation becomes a challenging task. Fig.
4 shows the challenges in noisy conditions. [31, 32]
(a) (b) (c)
(d) (e) (f)
(g) (h) (i)
Fig. 4 (a) Occlusion by eyelids, (b) Occlusion by eyelashes (c) Specular
Reflections (d) Motion Blur (e) Off-angle (f) Close-up of an iris image
Acquired at a large standoff distance (g) Contact Lenses (h) Poor
illumination (i) Person with Spec
A. Image Acquistion Issues
a) Occlusion by eyelids:
Occlusions are caused by biological characteristics of the
eye. The most well-known challenge face while iris
segmentation is the occlusion effected by the eyelids. The
eye is protected using eyelid. But normal human eye
typically occluded by the eyelid respectively. In such cases
boundary of eye is not in circular shape.
b) Occlusion by eyelashes:
Occlusions by eyelashes are caused by the hairs that are
located nearer to the eyelids. However In the existence of
eyelashes boundary detection process is affected. The
occlusion with eyelash of image is shown in Fig. 4b. This
factor plays important role to determine quality of an iris
image.
c) Specular reflections:
The high-intensity pixels small portion in iris image is
characterized as specular reflections. Occur due to improper
focus of light source. The segmentation accuracy is affected
by specular reflection because the iris boundaries
segmentation becomes difficult as shown in Fig. 4c.
d) Motion blur:
The Motion blur occurs in iris due to the moment of camera,
fluctuation of camera and moving object while image
acquisition. It results in false identification of region of
interest in segmentation process. The motion blur of iris image
is shown in Fig. 4d.
e) Off-angle iris:
The off-angled iris images are caused, when angle of
orientation of sensor used for acquiring iris is improper. In
such non-ideal situation the length of Iris area is reduced and
the boundary detection is become tedious. Off-angle iris
image is shown in Fig. 4e.
f) Standoff distance:
The Standoff distance term refers to the distance between the
camera and subject. The pixel resolution is depend upon the
distance. The number of pixel is less in acquired image, if the
distance is large in such situations, the boundaries may not be
detected accurately. Fig. 4f shows an acquired iris image at a
large standoff distance.
g) Eye glasses or contact lenses:
The more noisy artifacts are added, when the acquired iris
images consist of contact lens as shown in Fig. 4g.
h) Poor illumination:
The less information is captured due to poor illumination, the
boundaries are difficult to identify and texture features may
not been highlighted. Due to which recognition rate is
reduced. Fig. 4h shows the image with poor illumination.
i) Person with Spec:
The acquired iris image with spec causes problems on
localizing the boundaries. The detected iris boundaries are not
circular as shown in Fig. 4i.
B. Pre-processing Issues
The iris pre-processing includes steps such as Localization,
Segmentation and Normalization:
a) Iris Localization:
The acquired iris image has to be preprocessed to detect the
region of interest i.e. iris, which is in ring shape portion
between the inner boundary (pupil) and the outer boundary
(sclera). The circular inner and outer boundaries are located in
iris localization. It is necessary to compute the two circles
parameters separately because circular shape boundaries are
not co-centric. But it is tedious task to determine accurate
mask if the acquired Iris image contain noise [25, 26, 27].
b) Iris Segmentation:
Segmentation is the next step after localization to separate
sclera, eyelashes and eyelid area from eye. The efficiency of
segmentation algorithm depends on the quality of eye images.
Noisy imaging environment makes segmentation process
more difficult. The inaccurate segmentation results in poor
recognition rate. [28, 29]
b) Noisy Iris Challenge Evaluation(NICE.I and
NICE.II):
The Noisy Iris Challenge Evaluation (NICE.I and NICE II)
experimental results are discussed [34, 35]. The main aim is to
use acquired degraded iris images data in the uncontrolled
environment and visible wavelength, with standoff distance
variation and recognize the iris without noise. NICE.I
estimates the techniques of noise detection and iris
segmentation. NICE: II estimates the strategies of matching
and encoding for biometric traits. The fusion of extracted
scores performance is higher than any recognition scheme
[36]. The subjects are not cooperating in these iris biometric
systems. Fig. 6 shows the segmentation of degraded noisy
images and Fig. 7 shows the identification of degraded image
in numerical values.
Input Image Segmentation Mask
Binary
Executable

c) Normalization: Fig. 6 Noisy image segmentation

Normalization is the next step after segmentation to transform Input Image Input Image
the detected circular region into rectangular shape image [7].
This step is necessary because the iris of individuals is not of
same size and also to extract accurate features. Noisy imaging
environment makes Normalization process more inaccurate
due to false identification of Region of Interest (ROI). The
inaccurate Normalization results in poor recognition rate. [30] Binary
Executable

IV. METHODS TO ADDRESS CHALLENGES d

The challenges discussed in section III about Iris recognition
are need to be addressed to increase the recognition rate. In this
section, various methods and algorithms proposed by
researchers are discussed in brief. These algorithms remove
noise in each step such as Iris Localization, Iris segmentation,
Normalization and Feature Extraction and Recognition.
a) Gaussian Mixture Models:
Traditionally, iris masks are estimated using the rule-based
algorithms. But the accuracy is questionable. To overcome
these errors Figueiredo and Jains proposed Gaussian Mixture
Models (FJ-GMMs) [33] to classify both invalid and valid
regions of iris images. Extension to this Gabor Filter Bank
(GFB) is used for extracting the discriminable features from
iris. At the end Simulated Annealing (SA) technique is used to
optimize the extracted features of GFB in order to get the high
recognition rate. Experiments were performed on UBIRIS and
ICE2 iris datasets as shown in Fig. 5.
Dissimilarity Score
Fig. 7 Degraded image classification which outputs a numerical
value that differentiate between the irises
c) Segmentation of Degraded image in visible
wavelength:
The iris segmentation can work efficiently for degraded
images in less constrained environment [37]. In the degraded
image sclera is the most easily identifiable region, from which
novel features are extracted that measures the amount of sclera
in each particular direction. The procedure is linearly applied
for complete image and it is suitable for real-time systems as
shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 5 Upper picture is of Normalized iris image and its accurate mask is
shown in lower picture, with occluded area indicated by white color. In
this iris map there are noises caused by 1) eyelids (2) eyelashes, and 3)
specular reflections, as indicated in the picture. High recognition rate
achieve by indicating all these artifacts in the mask.
Fig. 8 Block diagram of iris segmentation method
d) Non-Iris Occlusion Detection:
The iris occlusions by eyelashes and eyelid are necessary to
detect for the accurate iris recognition. Otherwise recognition
rate will be reduced. Michal Haindl proposed [38, 39]
proposed a fast and efficient multispectral eyelash, eyelid and
specular reflection detection method based on 3D spatial
probabilistic textural model. First adaptively learns the iris area
flawless texture to extract distinct features to identify non-iris
occlusions using the recursive prediction analysis. The color
based iris occlusion detection results more accurate
segmentation of iris boundaries compare to Noisy Iris
Challenge Evaluation algorithms(NICE) as shown in Fig. 9.
improve it. Some of the measures taken to achieve this goal in
the literature are listed below. In [33] The False Rejection Rate
(FRR) of Simulated Annealing (SA) technique with fixed False
Acceptance Rate (FAR) of 0.1% using GFB varies from 1.65%
to 2.56% with the average of 2.10%. In [37] Neural network is
used for classification of degraded images in less constrained
environment to get higher segmentation accuracy. In [38] a
fast and efficient multispectral eyelash, eyelid and specular
reflection detection method based on 3D spatial probabilistic
textural model has been used to learn the iris area texture to
extract distinct features to identify non-iris occlusions.
TABLE 1 APPROCHES TO RESOLVING CHALLENGES IN NOISY ENVIRONMENT

Issues and Challenges

Number Iris Recognition
Database
of Proposed
Images Challenge Result
Methodology
ICE2 1528 FRR: 0.1 and
Fig. 9 Detected iris regions containing all three (a, b, c) occlusion Occlusion by Gaussian
Avg error
Eyelashes Mixture Models
types UBIRIS 1205 rate: 17.6

CAISA 500 Large standoff

Distance
e) Segmentation in Unconstrained Environment: NICE I and AUC: 0.9618
(Noisy Iris
UBIRIS v2 1000 NICE II FAR: 0.1
The Yu Chen [40, 41] proposed algorithm for iris challenge
Evaluation)
segmentation. The computationally efficient algorithm is Error rate:
verified on UBIRIS database. It is used to detect boundaries UBIRIS v2. 100 1.87,
with multiple arcs and lines of noisy iris images. The time Degraded
Segmentation Time:0.78sec
required to process each image is 0.5 second per image and 2% of Degraded for UBIRIS
Acquired
image in visible Error rate:
error rate on Intel processors. The required area is selected in ICE 100 Images
Wavelength 2.66
the eye area based on sclera is shown in Fig. 10. Time:0.70sec
for ICE
UBIRIS v1. 1877 Occlusion by Non-Iris Error rate:
Eyelid Occlusion 2.0%
UBIRIS v1. 11102 Detection Time:0.39sec
Specular Segmentation Error rate:
Reflection in 2%
UBIRIS.v2 500
Unconstrained speed: 0.5sec
Environment

Fig. 10 Detection of the eye area based on double and single sclera area
V. MEASURE TO IMPROVE THE ACCURACY OF IRIS
RECOGNITION SYSTEMS
The system performance improvement can be done in two
ways. First by using effective and efficient algorithms for each
step of iris recognition system and second by maintaining close
to ideal environmental conditions (proper camera location,
sufficient illumination, etc.) and having better quality of
equipment involved. Although, the second condition can be
taken care by providing sufficient financial support by the
organization, where the system is being installed; the
requirements given in the first condition are critical and very
important for improving system performance. The researchers
must apply effective, innovative and intelligent techniques to
VI. CONCLUSION
This paper provides a brief review of challenges, databases and
algorithms for iris recognition. The noisy imaging environment
as well as constrained conditions affects the performance of
iris recognition system. From this study it is observed that,
most of the researchers are not able to find complete and
reliable solution to all the challenges discussed in this paper.
Most of the researcher focused on steps of iris recognition
system by taking up few issues and their noise identification
and removal algorithms. Most of the methods and algorithms
were tested on the databases collected by various organizations
and universities. Attempts were also made to estimate the
accuracy of the systems designed. From the performance
evaluation of these algorithms as presented by authors, it is
observed that, there is still a scope of improvement in existing
approaches dealing with noisy environment.
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