While the use of fingerprints as a biometric is widespread, there has been relatively little investigation into that use with small children. It has been shown that the quality of juvenile fingerprints is significantly lower than that of adults which when coupled with the fact that fingers grow as a child ages, presents problems for their use in fingerprint comparison. Though the use of filters in the frequency domain for image enhancement, and with sample fingerprints provided by Eastern Virginia Medical School, it is hoped that successful pediatric fingerprinting will supplement or replace ID wrist bands in children’s hospitals.

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