A pilot study on using derivatives of photoplethysmographic signals as a biometric identifier

Photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals are easy to obtain with low cost, which enhances its potential to server as biometric identification mechanism for various applications. This paper examines two important issues in applying derivatives of PPG signals as discriminants to identify and verify subjects: consistency within an individual subject and discriminability between different subjects. The experimental results demonstrate that, by employing statistical tools, derivatives can precisely describe the features of an individual's PPG signal and be used as bio-measures for identification purposes.