Newly published research has found that it may be possible to use kinetic energy — that is, the unique signature created by energy created by the body when a person is walking — for authentication instead.

The research, published by The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia, found that it is possible to use the energy generated by a person’s walking patterns as a form of authentication, thanks to the ability to harvest energy from movement on wearable devices. The kinetic energy can also be used to power devices as well, offering a body-powered solution to battery charging.

The method involves the use of a Kinetic Energy Harvester, a device that can measure a person’s movement in a more efficient way than existing accelerometers used by existing smart devices. In measuring that movement, it can also capture a person’s “unique energy generation pattern” as an authentication option.

Dali Kafaar, a leader at the CSIRO’s Data61 research laboratory, said in a statement that KEH-based authentication is not only more convenient and less intrusive as it measures gait energy patterns without user interaction, but also more secure than other unlocking methods. “The way we walk is difficult to mimic,” Kafaar said. “Since the KEH-gait keeps authenticating the user continuously, it collects a significant amount of information about our movements, making it difficult to imitate or hack unlike guessing passwords or pin codes.”

The system is not yet perfect, with a trial finding that 13 out of 100 impostors who tried to imitate an individual’s motions succeeded in fooling the KEH authentication system. But on the flip side, authentication accuracy came in at 95 percent, while energy consumption dropped 78 percent compared with accelerometer-based authentication techniques.

Other variables can also interfere with the results, including shoes, clothes and walking speed all having an impact on recognition. But with promising results so far, how to overcome those variables will be examined in future research. A full copy of the research can be found here.

Image: CSIRO