New Biometric Smart Door

The solution is easier at nuclear reactors and may involve biometric security devices such as fingerprint or iris scanners.
But not every door needs the security of a nuclear reactor.
Now researchers have invented an inexpensive, sensor-riddled door that recognizes the person passing through without the need of a key or a card or the inconvenience of stopping to scan a finger or an eye.

The Wisdom Door, created by students at Duke University in Durham, N.C., could not only provide security but could also be rigged to control home electronics, so that when the person passes through the door, a room automatically lights up, plays music, or switches to a television channel all according to personal preference.

Nine sensors work together to make the door a walk-through security device.
Above the doorway is an ultrasonic sensor that constantly beams a signal downward. When a person passes underneath, the signal bounces off his head and travels back to the sensor.

Four infrared signals in the doorframe determine a person's width and girth.
The sensors are positioned two on each side of the frame, with two sensors on the outside of the frame and two on the inside.
When a person walks through the door, they break the infrared beams at a specific location.
The computer subtracts the distance of the breaks from the total width of the door to come up with the person's width.


SOURCE:
Discovery News

I think this is a very cool technology.
I can definately see this kind of thing replacing the traditional lock
and key within the coming decades.


Comments, Opinions?

Not going to happen, these locks require external power, which makes them susceptible to all kinds of attack, biometric data is can be acquired easily, considering you leave your fingerprints everywhere and to add insult to the injury once your signature gets hijacked, there is no way to change it.


an unpleasant downside of biometrics is that people will of course start tearing eyes out of peoples' heads and cut fingers off, depending on the system, which is already happening, btw:


news.bbc.co.uk...

The attackers forced Mr Kumaran to put his finger on the security panel to start the vehicle, bundled him into the back seat and drove off.

But having stripped the car, the thieves became frustrated when they wanted to restart it. They found they again could not bypass the immobiliser, which needs the owner's fingerprint to disarm it.

They stripped Mr Kumaran naked and left him by the side of the road - but not before cutting off the end of his index finger with a machete.

edit: the only useful application of biometrics is of course identifying people which works quite well in a controlled environment, f-ex. security clearance for a restricted area.

[edit on 17-2-2007 by Long Lance]

Well yes, if you have a system that uses 1 or 2 things s the lock.

But in the case of this door, there are nine different things that
form the overall lock, some of which would be incredibly difficult
to duplicate, like height and girth.