This Iris Scanner Can Identify You From 40 Feet Away

(CBS SF) -- An iris scanner could soon be a new tool in police arsenal to identify a potentially dangerous subject before an officer ever comes in contact with them.

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab Biometrics Center developed a recognition software that uses unique patterns in a person's iris and matches it to a name in a database.

Much like fingerprint or facial recognition systems, the project uses high-resolution cameras and mathematical pattern-recognition to scan a person's unique iris from up to 40 feet away.

It works like this: a police officer pulls a speeding car over, but before the officer exits the car, the iris scanning software has picked up the driver's eyes in the side-view mirror and matches them their iris to a name.

The CMU team posted a video of what it would look like in a typical traffic stop scenario.

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