Iris Recognition and 5G in the Pipeline at MWC 2015

Iris Recognition and 5G in the Pipeline at MWC 2015

4G too slow? Using your fingerprint to unlock your smartphone not secure enough?

This year’s Mobile World Congress (WMC) in Barcelona seems to have the answers.

Plans for 5G could tell your car to stop in under 1 millisecond, while new iris recognition will let you unlock your phone using your eyes.

Iris Recognition with Fujitsu

Fujitsu Iris Recognition by Delta ID

Source: Delta ID

Want to unlock your phone just by looking at it?

New technology announced by Fujitsu can do just that. By scanning the ring around the pupil, this technology can unlock your smartphone, ushering in the next generation of biometric security. This is achieved by shining an infrared light onto both eyes using an infrared camera mounted on the front of the phone, to capture the iris pattern.

According to Fujitsu this is a very secure method of authentication due to the difficulty in forging the iris.

Fujitsu’s iris recognition system can be used between 20 cm and 50cm, as opposed to 10 cm used by existing technologies. This is done through a custom infrared light and infrared camera designed by Fujitsu, paired with the high-speed iris recognition engine ActiveIRIS® from Delta ID.

Iris Recognition Engine Features:

  • Speed – Delta ID claims to be the fastest in the industry, recognising users in less than 150 milliseconds.
  • Convenience – Can be used with or without glasses, at a range from 20 cm to 50 cm.
  • Intelligent – Is not affected by dilated pupils, out-of-focus eyes, or blur caused by motion.
  • Environment – Is not affected by lighting conditions.
  • Secure – Low 1 in 10 million false acceptance rate.

Delta ID say, that compared to biometric technologies already on the market, the iris is a far more accurate part of the body to use for authentication. They state the disadvantages of other technologies:

  • Lighting conditions affect the accuracy of retina and face recognition.
  • Background noise affects voice recognition.
  • Washing hands, and different kinds of occupations, can lead to unreliable fingerprint recognition.
  • Over time the voice, skin, eye veins and face change.

Fujitsu’s iris recognition is still in prototype so it may still be some time before we see this technology rolled out in smartphones.

5G in the Pipeline

Samsung 5G Testing

Source: Samsung

The talk of fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks has been around for some time. Now the chatter just got louder with big names like Nokia Networks and Ericsson showcasing prototype 5G equipment at MWC.

Without a doubt the head-turning feature of 5G is the incredible speed, with Nokia Networks reaching over 5Gbps and Ericsson 2Gbps, as shown at MWC.

The exciting thing about the exploration of 5G is its potential for a wide-range of applications. Higher speeds and very low latency means 5G can be harnessed for car automation and safety, streaming 4K movies and to support the growth of networked objects for the Internet of Things.

Key Developments in 5G

  • 5G is still in the exploration stage, with big players still in testing.
  • Displays at MWC 2015 showed speeds between 2Gbps and 5Gbps.
  • The standard has not yet been defined.
  • Latency is planned to be below 1 millisecond.
  • Speed tests vary greatly based on the frequency spectrum used.

“Whether you are talking about mobile devices, the cloud, or the Internet of Things, the demand for 5G telecommunications standard and its supporting technologies will continue to grow,” ChangYeong Kim, Head of DMC R&D Center at Samsung Electronics.

In October last year Samsung had reached speeds of 7.5Gbps in testing and was the first test on the higher 28GHz frequency. They were also able to achieve a consistent 1.2Gbps with a car moving at 100km/hr. Samsung is continuing to develop key technologies to support high frequency bands, multiple access and low latency.

While 5G is not predicted to be available until around 2020, we’ll still see some interesting developments before then.

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