Research on Offline Palmprint Image Enhancement

Palmprint identification, a subcategory of biometrics identification, has become a hot research area, and image enhancement is a key problem in offline palmprint identification. Since the physiological characteristics and image quality of palmprints are different from those of fingerprints, existing algorithms on fingerprint image enhancement cannot be directly applied in offline palmprint images. Taking into account the characteristics of palmprint images, an enhancement algorithm specific to offline palmprint images is proposed in this paper. We have performed a series of experiments and provide the enhanced palmprint images in the experiment section. Moreover, we evaluate our algorithm by comparing it with the method only using a low-pass filter to smooth the images under the criteria of GI value. Besides, the running time of each step is given to show the efficiency of the algorithm. The result shows that our algorithm is capable of attaining the objectives of offline palmprint enhancement efficiently.