What is a Fingerprint Bifurcation?

(Image from NIST)

(Part of the biometric product marketing expert series)

If you hear a fingerprint person discussing a “bifurcation,” the definition is pretty simple.

“The point at which one friction ridge divides into two friction ridges.”

And if you think of fingerprint ridges as black lines on a white background, then a bifurcation is the exact opposite of a ridge ending.

The fingerprint image is from an appendix to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s 2003 Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation (FpVTE).

Yeah, THAT FpVTE. I remember it well from my days at Motorola…not a “top 3” vendor.