Intelligent agents for the management of complexity in multimodal biometrics

Current approaches to personal identity authentication using a single biometric technology are limited, principally because no single biometric is generally considered both sufficiently accurate and user-acceptable for universal application. Multimodal biometrics can provide a more adaptable solution to the security and convenience requirements of many applications. However, such an approach can also lead to additional complexity in the design and management of authentication systems. Additionally, complex hierarchies of security levels and interacting user/provider requirements demand that authentication systems are adaptive and flexible in configuration. In this paper we consider the integration of multimodal biometrics using intelligent agents to address issues of complexity management. The work reported here is part of a major project designated IAMBIC (Intelligent Agents for Multimodal Biometric Identification and Control), aimed at exploring the application of the intelligent agent metaphor to the field of biometric authentication. The paper provides an introduction to a first-level architecture for such a system, and demonstrates how this architecture can provide a framework for the effective control and management of access to data and systems where issues of privacy, confidentiality and trust are of primary concern. Novel approaches to software agent design and agent implementation strategies required for this architecture are also highlighted. The paper further shows how such a structure can define a fundamental paradigm to support the realisation of universal access in situations where data integrity and confidentiality must be robustly and reliably protected .