Conventional fingerprint readers rely on surface characteristics, but Lumidigm uses multi-spectral approach to capture the fingerprint, explains Bill Spence, vice president of transaction systems at Lumidigm.

The company’s sensors are ideal for rugged, challenging use cases. They use multiple wavelengths of light to look at different aspects of the finger. For example, the blue light component reads the surface where green light component penetrates to read the capillary finger bed about 1 millimeter below the surface, says Spence.

Lumidigm’s systems avoid the problems conventional fingerprint systems face in very dry environments, such as hospitals, or very wet environments, such as outdoor locations. The sensor can even work through gloves to capture usable images.