Osram Presents New Infrared LEDs for Iris Scanning, Facial Recognition

Banking apps on smartphones, business emails on your laptop, and online shopping on your tablet – our mobile companions need powerful protection against unauthorized access. Special infrared LEDs from Osram Opto Semiconductors provide the basis for reliable iris and face recognition even on mobile devices.
 
At the Mobile World Congress, Osram will be presenting two new members of its Oslux family for access control.
 
Iris scans and facial recognition are among the most reliable biometric identification methods and are difficult to fool. Both methods require special infrared LEDs in order to provide reliable protection for mobile devices. Osram Opto Semiconductors is a technology leader in this field. Two years ago, the company was the first to launch an infrared LED that brought iris scanners to smartphones and other mobile devices.
 
Essentially, iris scanners illuminate the eyes with infrared light and a camera takes a picture. Special software then analyzes the picture to detect the iris pattern, which is unique to each individual. The latest infrared LED, the Oslux SFH 4787S, is a new version that enables the iris to be illuminated even more uniformly.
 
Sensor systems for facial recognition record the user’s face and detect typical features independent of facial expressions. However, to identify these features accurately and reliably, the software requires high-quality images. This means illuminating the face brightly and evenly, without shadows – and for this method to protect laptops and tablets, it also has to work in a wide variety of lighting conditions.
 
The solution is to illuminate the face also with infrared light. The Oslux SFH 4796S infrared LED has an emission angle that perfectly matches the field of view required by facial recognition systems. Users are not dazzled by the light at all.