The United Arab Emirates iris study : Results from 200 billion iris cross-comparisons

Statistical results are presented for biometric recognition of persons by their iris patterns, based on 200 billion cross-comparisons between different eyes. The database consisted of 632,500 iris images acquired in the United Arab Emirates, in a national border-crossing programme that uses the Daugman algorithms for iris recognition. A total of 152 different nationalities were represented in this database, which is the largest iris database in the world. Statistical analysis of the 200 billion cross-comparisons allows conclusions to be drawn about the numerical decision policies that should be implemented in large-scale identity searches using these algorithms, both to ensure the absence of False Matches and to calculate confidence levels, given the size of an enrolled database and the frequency of independent searches across it.