Enhancing fingerprint images . . . Gabor Filter

This work demonstrates an application of an adaptive Gabor filter technique to enhance fingerprint images. Firstly, average ridge and valley regions are evaluated as well as their direction by the directional field obtained. Secondly, the fingerprint topological structure is enhanced by Gabor filter using parameters according to their region. That is, filter orientations and frequencies vary according to the fingerprint area. Experimental tests indicate that the use of appropriate filter parameters enhances such images and shows an accurate final result on the recognition processes. This is done without any application of sophisticated techniques, such as those that heuristically evaluate empirical values or use artificial intelligence processes, such as neural networks