Fingerprint Image Quality

Published

April 13, 2004

Author(s)

Elham Tabassi, Charles Wilson, Craig I. Watson

Abstract

In this report, we propose a new definition of quality of fingerprint impressions and present detailed algorithms to measure image quality for fingerprints. We define fingerprint image quality as a predictor of matcher performance before a matcher algorithm is applied. This means presenting the matcher with good quality fingerprint images will result in high matcher performance, and vice versa, the matcher will perform poorly for poor quality fingerprints. We also have carried out an objective evaluation of the quality assessment of fingerprint images. Our quality measure is implemented in the C programming language and has been tested on 20 different live scan and paper fingerprints datasets collected in different operational settings. Our implementation is publicly, but export controlled, available as part of NIST's fingerprint software distribution.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 7151

Report Number

7151

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.7151

Local Download

Keywords

fingerprint, matching, quality, biometrics

Citation

Tabassi, E. , Wilson, C. and Schlenoff, C. (2004), Fingerprint Image Quality, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.7151, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=905710 (Accessed October 10, 2025)