The iris is the most visible part of the eye. It is the part that is coloured, and is what is referred to when someone describes a person's eyes as being blue, brown, green, etc. It consists of fibrovascular tissue and sphincter muscles that open and close the pupil.

The iris goes through changes when you are young, but once it is formed, the features remain constant throughout the rest of your life. Each person's iris is unique and this can therefore be used to identify someone biometrically.

An iris scan typically analyses over 200 points of the iris, looking for special features and compares these points with previously stored image.

Benefits of Iris biometric systems

•  Accuracy: Biometric technology as a whole is still at an early stage of development, and cases have been reported of certain systems being fooled or giving false readings. There have so far been no known cases of iris recognition providing a false acceptance or false rejection of biometric data.

•  Robustness of the system: Linked with the accuracy benefit above, iris scanning is a robust system: spectacles, contact lenses and eye surgery do not alter the unique features of the iris and the system can easily compensate for any attempted variations. To increase the system's security iris scans vary the light and check that the pupil dilates and contracts. This prevents an image or photo of the iris being used instead of a person's real eye.

•  Non-intrusive and hygienic - no physical contact is required.

IRIS's use of Iris recognition

In The Goldilocks Game, IRIS utilise Iris biometric technology as part of their security measures to verify members of the organisation as well as individuals.

Find out more about the use of IRIS recognition by clicking here.