Volume 4, Number 3 July/August 1996
A visual and image recognition system developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology someday could virtually eliminate the use of stolen credit cards. The translation sensitivity adjustable compact optical correlator (TSACOC) will read the fingerprints of the person using the credit card and confirm that he or she is its owner by matching the prints to a holographic image implanted in the card. The credit card purchase will not be authorized if the fingerprints do not match.
The TSACOC is a portable, low-cost laser optic robotics "eye." JPL developed it so that mechanical robots on unmanned distant space planetary exploration missions can "see." The TSACOC is more compact and sensitive than other correlators because its innovative optical architecture uses an adjustable convergent reference beam to record the matched spatial filter, eliminating the need for a lens.
The California Institute of Technology currently is working on a patent for the technology, said Dr. Neville Marzwell, who invented it with Dr. Hua-Kuang Liu at the University of South Alabama. Partners on this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program project were Lumin Inc. and Standard International Inc. with support from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Marzwell said that the TSACOC, the first sensor of its kind to record, reads and processes fingerprints in three dimensions, which could eliminate theft in other ways. Holographic images of fingerprints could be implanted in checks to eliminate fraud and in automatic teller machine cards so that a fingerprint confirmation and a personal identification number would be needed to withdraw money. Banks and businesses could adapt their current processing equipment to include the TSACOC, so the cost would be minimal, Marzwell said. The TSACOC also could be implanted in car handles so only the car's owner could unlock its doors. Hotel room keys could be designed in a similar manner, according to Marzwell.
The TSACOC's fingerprint recognition capabilities also have law enforcement applications, including quickly searching for fingerprint matches from a national database, providing security checks at commercial building entrances, identifying automobile license plates and supporting border patrol and illegal drug traffic prevention efforts. Yet, with all its potential on Earth, NASA developed the TSACOC to aid in our quest to learn more about the far reaches of the Solar System. As Marzwell explains: "Assume a space vehicle equipped with a TSACOC is looking for the space shuttle for docking and rendezvous. The patterns for the space shuttle have been stored in the TSACOC's holographic memory so it can recognize it. A video camera records the shuttle and the TSACOC's laser illuminated spatial light modulator (SLM) compares the video to TSACOC's memory to decide whether or not the space vehicle has found the shuttle." The TSACOC also could be used for immediately analyzing and screening information from planetary probes, identifying specific objects under space surveillance, navigating space vehicles, docking with space stations, evaluating environments for habitation in space and avoiding space vehicle collisions with objects on the Moon and Mars.
For more information, contact Dr. Neville Marzwell at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Phone: 818/354-6543, E-mail: Neville.Marzwell@jpl.nasa.gov
Please mention that you read about it in Innovation.
Curator: Joe Goldfus
