Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Individual Paper Outline

Topic: Fingerprint Technology for Transportation

Executive Summary

This paper aims to explore the development and the increased use of fingerprint technology in all forms of transportation today, which includes air, rail, road and water. The paper examines the advantages, disadvantages and conceivability of this service in the future and how it is able to provide technological sustainability for future generations.

Background/Introduction

·      What is biometric technology?
·      Invention of biometrics
·      Types of biometrics – fingerprint, eyes, hand geometry, voice
·      Modes of entry to transportation today – transit cards, concession cards, passports, tokens, car keys, electronic tickets

Historical Perspective

·      Birth of biometric technology
à Who, when, how?
·      First use of biometric technology
·      Advancement of biometric technology till today
·      Advantages of biometric technology today
à How has biometric technology affected the way we live our lives today? (Convenience, security, eliminating the problem of lost passports, IDs or passwords)
à Is biometric technology a form of sustainable technology? (Eliminating the use of cards)
·      Disadvantages of biometric technology today
à What are the problems people face with the use of biometric technology? (Technological failure, time wasted, cost implications, change of physical appearances render biometric technology useless)
à Are there economic implications? (High costs with low returns)
à Are there negative consensuses among people about the use of biometric technology? (Some find it intrusive, etc.)
·      How entrance to different modes of transportation has changed over the years – Trishaw, wheels, animals, use of tokens, cards, car keys (Talk about the new Nissan which unlocks the car without using the any form of keys)

Current Situation

·      Current use of biometric technology in different aspects
à Airports, entrance to houses, attendance taking, banking, military, transportation (sea bases, airports), movies
à Singapore context: Increase interest for biometric technology for use in homes, Changi Airport and new passport made for biometric technology
·      Use of technology for entrance transportation in Singapore
à Standard tickets, ezLink cards coins, tickets, car key sensors
·      Advancement of car keys especially
à How it has radically changed over the years

Future Considerations

·      Advantages of the use of biometric technology for transportation in Singapore
à Environmentally friendly (Reducing the use of ezLink cards)
à Convenience (Not needing the use of cards or coins)
à Easy to learn (For the elderly and small children)
·      Disadvantages of biometric technology for transportation
à Causes confusion (Top-up methods and concession)
à Slowdowns due to technical glitch (In a fast paced country, technical glitches will cause a big problem for commuters)
à Tourist use? (Provide the option of buying cards?)
à Automatically calculate the different prices for transportation for people of different ages and time of the day
à Increase peoples’ reliance on technology
·      Feasibility of biometric technology in Singapore
à For cars (Different owners? Necessary for engine)
à Back-up plan in case of technological glitch (Retaining the use of cards, leading to locals choosing to use old-fashioned method of  cards and not fingerprints?)
à Fast-paced and vocal society (Frequent glitches may cause social uproar)
à Ageing society (Will the elderly respond positively to it?)
à Young will be highly reliant on such advanced technology
à Is this idea feasible in the long run?     
·      Funding for biometric technology for transportation
à Government subsidy (Will government funding lead to inefficiency?)
à Competition among private firms

Conclusions
·      Whether fingerprint technology for transportation should be used
·      Singapore context – Is it suitable for our society? Is it intrusive?
·      YALI’S QUESTION
·      Increased reliance on technology (Is it healthy?)

References

·      Bibliography

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