Cardiac biometric security in welfare monitoring

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a new and promising modality for biometric recognition. This signal is typically collected within welfare monitoring environments along with other vital signals. As opposed to static biometric modalities like the iris or the fingerprints, ECG is time-dependent thereby presenting the opportunity of continuously authenticating subjects in such environments. However, ECG is affected by both physical and psychological activities, which have to be taken into consideration for successful deployment of this biometric. This paper demonstrates the effects of psychology on the performance of ECG biometric systems and proposes a novel methodology for automatic template updating in order to mitigate the risks associated with poor biometric matching.