Sajan Ambadiyil

Automatic Number Plate Recognition for indian standard number plates

Automatic Number Plate Recognition or ANPR is a mass surveillance method that uses optical character recognition on images to read the number plates on vehicles. This system is designed with a neural network which is trained to recognize all the characters that can be found in an Indian Standard High Security Number Plate and is implemented using MATLAB.

Performance analysis and material dependence of micro holographic optical elements as couplers for fiber optic communication

Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) are gaining much importance and finding newer and better applications in areas of optical fiber communication and optical information processing systems. In contrast to conventional HOEs, optical communication and information systems require smaller and efficient elements of desired characteristics and transfer functions. Such Micro Holographic Optical Elements (MHOEs) can either be an HOE, recorded with two narrow beams of laser light or a segment cut from a larger HOE (SHOEs), and recorded in the conventional manner. In this study, micro holographic couplers, having specific focusing and diffraction characteristics were recorded in different holographic recording media such as silver halide and dichromated gelatin. Wavelength response of the elements was tested at 633 nm and 442 nm. Variation in diffraction efficiency/coupling factor, and insertion loss of the elements were studied. The paper reports in detail about the above results and related design considerations.

Facial periocular region based unique ID generation and one to one verification for security documents

Security documents like certificates, hall tickets, passport, license etc. need protection from impersonation. Nevertheless such valuable documents contains individuals name, address and in some cases a photo as a means of personal identification, criminal impersonation is an easy task. Hence it demands a system which authenticates the owner of the document using his or her personal biometric features. Though Fingerprint is considered to be the most cost effective method for personal identification, the credibility of such technology has been questioned due to the easily reproducible attacks. This paper proposes a novel cost effective and efficient method of creating a unique ID based on the feature points extracted from the facial periocular region of an individual. The unique ID thus generated is converted to QR code and it is printed in the security documents for one to one verification. The developed method is analyzed for finding out the typical performance parameters.

Holographic interferometry for security and forensic applications

Security holograms having unique 3D images are one of the tools for enhancing the security for product and personnel authentication and anti-counterfeiting. Apart from the high technology that is required, the uniqueness of a 3D object presents a significant additional threshold for the counterfeiting of such security holograms. But, due to the development of 3D printing technology, the hurdles are disabled and allow the chances of counterfeiting. In order to overcome this, holographic interferometry is effectively utilized and the object is recorded twice before and after the state of random object change. At the time of reconstruction, two signal waves generated simultaneously interfere each other, resulting in a fringe modulation. This fringe modulation in 3D image hologram with respect to the random object change is exploited to generate a rigid and unique anticounterfeit feature. Though holographic interferometry techniques are being widely used for the non-destructive evaluation, the applicability of this technology for the security and forensic activity is less exploited. This paper describes our efforts to introduce holographic interferometry in 3D image holograms for security and forensic applications.

Microstructure encryption and decryption techniques in optical variable and invariable devices in printed documents for security and forensic applications

Today, document counterfeiting is a global menace because of the advanced technologies available at ever decreasing prices. Instead of eschew the paper documents; applying efficient cost effective security methodologies are the feasible solutions. This paper reports a novel cost effective and simple optical technique using micro text encrypted optical variable device (OVD) threads, ultra-violet (UV) based optical invariable device (OID) patterns and artistic fonts for secure preparation of the documents and its forensic application. Applying any one of the above technique or together can effectively enhance the level of security of the most valuable document. The genuineness of the documents can be verified using simple decryption techniques.

Feasibility analysis of unique ID (UID) generation for personal authentication of valuable documents using dorsal hand vein pattern

Reliable personal authentication is a critical and vital obligation to the security in all the real-world applications. Nevertheless, biometric features are effectively used for the personal authentication, in some cases the criminal impersonation is an easy task. The reproducible attack in fingerprint system and cost prohibitive nature of iris and facial based system limit the vast implementation of the same for personal authentication. Hence, considering the cases of increasing identity theft, there is more reason than ever to ensure the reliable and cost-effective personal authentication. The vein biometric identification system has been gaining increased attention in recent years. Anatomically, the shape of the vein pattern at the dorsal hand is unique for each even for identical twins and remains stable for a period. The objective of this work is to conduct a feasibility analysis of unique ID generation using dorsal hand vein pattern as the biometric authentication system for preventing identity theft of the valuable documents. Images of the vein pattern from the dorsal side of the hand are tried to capture using a regular type Smartphone camera. Vein pattern thus captured is used to extract the unique features. Numerical values generated from such unique feature are encrypted and used to create a unique ID. This paper discusses about the method for the dorsal hand vein pattern capturing, its feature extraction, conversion to the unique ID and its feasibility to integrate to the valuable documents.

Chaotic Elements—A Novel Physical Cryptographic Primitive for Document Authentication

Today’s digital revolution has also made the flexibility to produce the forged document very easily. It is possible to secure the valuable document by adding a combination of several materials based security features like substrate, design, print and ink based features. However, any manufactured material based feature is susceptible for imitation. With the advent of sophisticated technological progress, fraudsters require only the time to copy these features. Hence, to avoid all such counterfeiting threats, it is better to utilise unpredictable, disordered, latent or microscopic intrinsic unclonable elements, having confusing nature and are formed from a totally random process independent from human intervention. In the absence of a general term, this element can be termed as “CHAOTIC ELEMENTS” and this paper introduces a novel promising technology based on these chaotic elements. This shall address all the existing challenges in the conventional as well as contemporary security technologies for valuable documents without incurring extraordinary high costs. The natural disorder and entropy of the chaotic elements can be taken as cryptographic protocols and primitives for authentication whose security does not rest on the usual unproven number-theoretic assumptions

Banknote authentication using chaotic elements technology.

The counterfeit banknote is a growing threat to the society since the advancements in the field of computers, scanners and photocopiers, as they have made the duplication process for banknote much simpler. The fake note detection systems developed so far have many drawbacks such as high cost, poor accuracy, unavailability, lack of user-friendliness and lower effectiveness. One possible solution to this problem could be the use of a system uniquely linked to the banknote itself. In this paper, we present a unique identification and authentication process for the banknote using chaotic elements embedded in it. A chaotic element means that the physical elements are formed from a random process independent from human intervention. The chaotic elements used in this paper are the random distribution patterns of such security fibres set into the paper pulp. A unique ID is generated from the fibre pattern obtained from UV image of the note, which can be verified by any person who receives the banknote to decide whether the banknote is authentic or not. Performance analysis of the system is also studied in this paper.

Performance analysis and security dependence of on paper digital signature using random and critical content

The content of physical paper documents is a major concern, after the development of modern scanning and printing technologies. The tendency for the document fraud has been growing and the paper-based documents require authenticating the sender identity and ensuring the content integrity. This paper presents a reliable and simple method for authenticating the content of a paper document by implementing an on paper digital signature. This method randomly selects the words at random positions of the document along with critical content and creates on paper digital signature. This method employs an online document verification system and the unauthorized access is denied by the user authentication mechanism. Performance analysis and security dependence on the system is also studied in this paper.

On Paper Digital Signature (OPDS)

The requirements for authenticating the identity of the sender and ensuring the content integrity in printed paper documents have been growing. Paper documents are still used in the various secure transactions. Manual verification of large amount of documents to authenticate the sender and the content is difficult. The digital signatures can be implemented on each printed paper document to fulfill these requirements. The existing technologies make use of image processing techniques for creating and verifying digital signatures and are vulnerable to physical conditions of the document. Another currently available method takes whole content of the document to achieve the requirement and requires more complex procedures for implementation. This paper presents a novel scheme for securing the authenticity and originality of certificates issued by an authority by implementing unique digital signatures created from the selected contents (words or characters) of the documents. The method assures the content integrity and sender identity authentication.