Sambit Bakshi and his guide Banshidhar Majhi. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: A research work on identifying a person using his iris (a part of eye) by a student of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, has won him the prestigious Innovative Student Project Award, 2011, of the Indian National Academy of Engineering.

Sambit Bakshi, a student of the department of computer science and engineering at the NIT, has received the award for his MTech thesis titled “Development of Robust Iris Localisation and Impairment Pruning Schemes”.

The INAE aims to promote advancement of, and excellence in, the practice of engineering and technology and related science disciplines and their application to problems of national importance.

Nominations for this year’s Innovative Student Project Award had come from premier national institutes such as the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu).

Sambit’s research work, however, was adjudged the best among five candidates receiving the award.

“The thesis deals with computer-aided identification of an individual by extracting features of his iris. Apart from conventional biometric traits such as face, signature, palm print and fingerprint, the thesis deals with iris as a biometric trait,” Sambit said.

“This kind of iris identification system can be used in security and emigration checking at airports and other places. As a result, a person would not be required to carry an identity proof such as passport to get identified at airports. He can be identified as soon as he places his iris in front of a security camera. The implementation of such security systems would help tighten national security,” he said.

Iris recognition remains a very active research topic in computing, engineering, statistics, and applied mathematics.

It uses cameras to acquire images of the detail-rich, intricate structures of the iris. Digital templates encoded from these patterns allow identification of an individual.

“The project carried out by Sambit has opened up research issues for future trends of identification system,” said Sambit’s guide Banshidhar Majhi.