Huntsville, Ala.-based IDair wants to make it possible to capture fingerprints from almost 20 feet away, the company told the Huntsville Times.

Joel Burcham, the founder of IDair, says the applications now are military, being able to properly identify someone from a great distance, but other uses will emerge. The device, which captures a single fingerprint, uses image-processing software to refine and image and make a match against a database. The reader sells for less than $2,000.