The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has issued a call for Papers on Future Trends in Biometric Processing. The deadline for submissions is 30 September 2010.

Background to the call

Biometrics - the automated identifi cation of individuals by means of the measurement of physiological or behavioural characteristics - has now reached a level of maturity where viable practical applications are both possible and increasingly available (some one million schoolchildren in the UK, for example, use biometrics on a daily basis for registration, library transactions, etc) and where commercial sensors and systems are to be found in diverse market sectors. Almost all independent predictions of market trends in biometrics suggest the likelihood of increasing growth and outreach of biometrics-based applications on a worldwide scale.

Yet despite this, many research questions remain, and it is clear that there is much which can still be achieved in terms of improving performance, facilitating adoption of biometric technologies in new application domains and, perhaps especially, in improving the interaction of systems and users. Even among relatively well-established modalities (e.g. face, iris and fingerprint recognition) new opportunities are arising for developing more powerful and robust systems, while current interest in developing biometrics “on the move” will open up a wide range of opportunities in the future.

There is a continuing interest in multibiometric systems and, more recently, an upturn of interest in ways in which soft biometrics can contribute to improving decision-making in practical scenarios. The increasing age profi le of citizens is raising important questions about how to ensure inclusiveness in adoption and, especially, bringing a greater focus on enrolment, re-enrolment and template management issues, while questions about security and privacy are of concern to all potential system users. These are just some examples of areas where continuing research is essential if the full potential of biometric technologies and processing techniques is to be realised and exploited in a way which encourages trust and confi dence among users. It is also apparent that image analysis and vision techniques (obvious current examples include the more widespread adoption of 3-D imaging and analysis, better capture and analysis of visual data
“on the move” etc) will be central to maintaining this forward momentum in research and a key underpinning technology area.

For all these reasons, it is timely to seek to bring together a body of research which might refl ect current trends in biometrics research and which can point the way to future development and exploitation of biometrics-based identification.

Papers are sought on any topic of relevance to the question of improving reliability of biometric systems and increasing the areas of applicability in the future.

All papers must be submitted through the journal’s Manuscript Central system:
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/iet-cvi

Proposed publication schedule:

Deadline for submission of papers: 30 September 2010
Authors to receive a 1st decision by: 31 January 2011
Final notifi cation of acceptance: April 2011
On-line and print publication: Q3 2011

Special issue guest editors:
Prof. Michael Fairhurst (Lead Guest Editor)
University of Kent
E:
Prof. Patrizio Campisi
Università degli Studi Roma TRE
E:
Dr. Julian Fierrez
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
E: julian.fi errez@uam.

IET Publishing Dept. contact:
Andrew Muller
Managing Editor
E: