Towards Improving the NIST Fingerprint Image Quality (NFIQ) Algorithm (Extended Version)

The NIST Fingerprint Image Quality (NFIQ) algorithm has become a standard method to assess fingerprint image quality. However, in many applications a more accurate and reliable assessment is desirable. In this publication, we report on our efforts to optimize the NFIQ algorithm by a re-training of the underlying neural network based on a large fingerprint image database. Although we only achieved a marginal improvement, our work has revealed several areas for potential optimization.