Finger print readers are fast becoming commonplace as secure alternatives to text-based authentication. The project goal is to develop a programmable finger print identification system. The system should be capable of storing users' finger prints in a memory, and comparing future inputs against this database. The scanner hardware will be purchased separately.

The system will take in data from a third party scanner. When a user wants to add a fingerprint for reference, he needs to switch the programming input high and scan his finger. The system will store that image to memory. For fingerprint authentication, the user will switch the programming input low and scan his finger. This scan will be compared to the database and a match will be determined based on the algorithm described below.

The system will compare two fingerprints by convolving the two images. The maximum of this two dimensional convolution will be compared to a certain threshold value. If over this value, the system will return a positive match. If the maximum is below the threshold value, then the system will return a negative match. To implement this design we will be using a major-minor FSM strategy. The major FSM will be the "controller". The minor FSM's are the memory interface, the scanner interface, and the convolution module.