A model-based approach to human identification using ECG

Biometrics, such as fingerprint, iris scan, and face recognition, offer methods for identifying individuals based on a unique physiological measurement. Recent studies indicate that a person's electrocardiogram (ECG) may also provide a unique biometric signature. Current techniques for identification using ECG rely on empirical methods for extracting features from the ECG signal. This paper presents an alternative approach based on a time-domain model of the ECG trace. Because Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models form a rich class of descriptors for representing the structure of periodic time series data, they are well-suited to characterizing the ECG signal. We present a method for modeling the ECG, extracting features from the model representation, and identifying individuals using these features.