Facing the future of biometrics: Demand for safety and security in the public and private sectors is driving research in this rapidly growing field

In the future, though, more and more people will be confronted with biometric systems, even if they are not at all widespread today. While according to the ICAO recommendations, from 2006 on biometric-enabled border control will be based on 2D face recognition technology, non-government applications can be foreseen. Biometric systems will enable access to security areas to be controlled more reliably. Examples include critical infrastructures particularly in need of protection, such as energy supply facilities, nuclear power stations, or computer centers of societal importance, such as emergency service control units. The advantage of biometric authentication is that it reduces the risk of information (passwords) or tokens (keys or chipcards) that are intentionally or unintentionally passed on to unauthorized persons and of access authorizations being stolen, because in contrast to knowledge-based or possession-based procedures, the biometric characteristics of an individual such as physical characteristics or patterns of behaviour are directly tied to a person - usually for the long term. The paper investigates chances and challenges of 2D- and 3D face recogntion