Adafruit Optical Fingerprint Sensor

Created by lady ada

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-optical-fingerprint-sensor

Last updated on 2021-11-15 05:53:03 PM EST

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Table of Contents

Overview 3

Enrolling vs. Searching 4

Enrolling New Users with Windows 4

Searching with the Software 9

Wiring for use with Arduino 10

• Arduino UNO & Compatible Wiring 11
• Hardware Serial Wiring 12
• Soft & Hard Serial 13
• Upload 14

Enrolling with Arduino 15

Python & CircuitPython 16

• Sensor Wiring 16
• CircuitPython Microcontroller Wiring 17
• Python Computer Wiring 17
• CircuitPython Fingerprint Library Installation 19
• Python Installation of Fingerprint Library 19
• CircuitPython & Python Usage 20
• Example Code 20
• Enrolling Prints 24
• Finding Prints 25
• Deleting Fingerprints 25

Python Docs 25

Downloads 26

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Overview

Secure your project with biometrics - this all-in-one optical fingerprint sensor will
make adding fingerprint detection and verification super simple. These modules are
typically used in safes - there's a high powered DSP chip that does the image
rendering, calculation, feature-finding and searching. Connect to any microcontroller
or system with TTL serial, and send packets of data to take photos, detect prints, hash
and search. You can also enroll new fingers directly - up to 162 finger prints can be
stored in the onboard FLASH memory.

We like this particular sensor because not only is it easy to use, it also comes with
fairly straight-forward Windows software that makes testing the module simple - you
can even enroll using the software and see an image of the fingerprint on your
computer screen. But, of course, we wouldn't leave you a datasheet and a "good
luck!" - we wrote a full Arduino library so that you can get running in under 10 minutes.
The library can enroll and search so its perfect for any project (https://adafru.it/aRz).
We've also written a detailed tutorial on wiring and use (https://adafru.it/clz). This is by
far the best fingerprint sensor you can get.

• Supply voltage: 3.6 - 6.0VDC

• Operating current: 120mA max
• Peak current: 150mA max
• Fingerprint imaging time: <1.0 seconds
• Window area: 14mm x 18mm
• Signature file: 256 bytes
• Template file: 512 bytes

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• Storage capacity: 162 templates
• Safety ratings (1-5 low to high safety)
• False Acceptance Rate: <0.001% (Security level 3)
• False Reject Rate: <1.0% (Security level 3)
• Interface: TTL Serial
• Baud rate: 9600, 19200, 28800, 38400, 57600 (default is 57600)
• Working temperature rating: -20C to +50C
• Working humidy: 40%-85% RH
• Full Dimensions: 56 x 20 x 21.5mm
• Exposed Dimensions (when placed in box): 21mm x 21mm x 21mm triangular
• Weight: 20 grams

Enrolling vs. Searching

There are basically two requirements for using the optical fingerprint sensor. First is
you'll need to enroll fingerprints - that means assigning ID #'s to each print so you can
query them later. Once you've enrolled all your prints, you can easily 'search' the
sensor, asking it to identify which ID (if any) is currently being photographed.

You can enroll using the Windows software (easiest and neat because it shows you
the photograph of the print) or with the Arduino sketch (good for when you don't have
a Windows machine handy or for on-the-road enrolling).

Enrolling New Users with Windows

The easiest way to enroll a new fingerprint is to use the Windows software. The
interface/test software is unfortunately windows-only but you only need to use it once
to enroll, to get the fingerprint you want stored in the module.

First up, you'll want to connect the sensor to the computer via a USB-serial converter.
The easiest way to do this is to connect it directly to the USB/Serial converter in the
Arduino. To do this, you'll need to upload a 'blank sketch' this one works well for
"traditional" Arduinos, like the Uno and the Mega:

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// this sketch will allow you to bypass the Atmega chip
// and connect the fingerprint sensor directly to the USB/Serial
// chip converter.

// Red connects to +5V

// Black connects to Ground
// White goes to Digital 0
// Green goes to Digital 1

void setup() {}
void loop() {}

The "blank" sketch won't work for "native USB" based Arduinos like the
Leonardo, Micro, Zero, etc! Use the Leo_passthru sketch instead!

If you're using a Leonardo, Micro, Yun, Zero, or other native-USB device like
ATSAMD21 or ATmega32U4-based controller, use the Leo_passthru sketch instead of
the "blank" sketch.

//Leo_passthru
// Allows Leonardo to pass serial data between fingerprint reader and Windows.
//
// Red connects to +5V
// Black connects to Ground
// Green goes to Digital 0
// White goes to Digital 1

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
Serial1.begin(57600);
Serial.begin(57600);
}

void loop() {

while (Serial.available())
Serial1.write(Serial.read());
while (Serial1.available())
Serial.write(Serial1.read());
}

Wire up the sensor as described in the sketch comments after uploading the sketch.
Since the sensor wires are so thin and short, we stripped the wire a bit and melted
some solder on so it made better contact but you may want to solder the wires to
header or similar if you're not getting good contact. When you plug in the power, you
may see the LED blink to indicate the sensor is working.

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If your sensor has all the same-color
wires, The first wire from the left is
ground, then the two data pins, then
power. You'll have to cut, strip and solder
the wires.

RX is the same as the White wire

TX is the same as the Green wire

If your sensor has different wires, The

first wire from the left should be the black
wire ground, then the two data pins, RX
is the white wire, TX is the green wire
then the red power wire. You'll have to
cut, strip and solder the wires.

Start up the SFGDemo software and click Open Device from the bottom left corner.
Select the COM port used by the Arduino.

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And press OK when done. You should see the following, with a blue success message
and some device statistics in the bottom corner. You can change the baud rate in the
bottom left hand corner, as well as the "security level" (how sensitive it is) but we
suggest leaving those alone until you have everything running and you want to
experiment. They should default to 57600 baud and security level 3 so set them if
they're wrong

If you get an error when you Open Device, check your wiring, try swapping the
RX and TX wires on the sensor, that's a common mixup!

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Lets enroll a new finger! Click the Preview checkbox and press the Enroll button next
to it (Con Enroll means 'Continuous' enroll, which you may want to do if you have
many fingers to enroll). When the box comes up, enter in the ID # you want to use.
You can use up to 162 ID numbers.

The software will ask you to press the finger to the sensor

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You can then see a preview (if you cliecked the preview checkbox) of the fingerprint.

You will then have to repeat the process, to get a second clean print. Use the same
finger!

On success you will get a notice.

If there's a problem such as a bad print or image, you'll have to do it again.

Searching with the Software

Once you have the finger enrolled, it's a good idea to do a quick test to make sure it
can be found in the database. Click on the Search button on the right hand side.

When prompted, press a different/same finger to the sensor.

If it is the same finger, you should get a match with the ID #

If it is not a finger in the database, you will get a failure notice.

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Wiring for use with Arduino
Once you've tested the sensor, you can now use it within a sketch to verify a
fingerprint. We'll need to rewire the sensor. Disconnect the green and white wires and
plug the green wire into digital 2 and the white wire to digital 3. (For ESP8266 use 4 &
5, for devices with Hardware UART use 0 & 1)

It is normal for the sensor to blink the LED quickly once powered, after that the
LED may stay off until you've started to request data from it

If your fingerprint sensor has individual

socket wires (its this one) (https://
adafru.it/QfT) then use the following wire
setup:

• Red Wire to 3.3V

• Yellow wire is Serial TX
• White wire is Serial RX
• Black wire is ground

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If your cable has a single slim connector
on the end and has different color wires:

• The first wire from the left should

be the black wire ground
• then the two data pins: Serial RX is
the white wire
• Serial TX is the green wire
• Then the red power wire.

You'll have to cut, strip and solder the

wires.

If your sensor is an older one and has all

the same-color wires, The first wire from
the left is ground, then the two data pins,
then power. You'll have to cut, strip and
solder the wires.

RX is the same as the White wire

TX is the same as the Green wire

Arduino UNO & Compatible Wiring

This example sketch uses pins 2 and 3 for software serial (on ATmega328P type
boards by default) - Not all boards support Software Serial on all pins so check board
documentation! For example on ESP8266 we used 4 & 5

You can power the sensor from 3.3V or 5V

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In the diagrams below we show the wires plugged directly into the Arduino.
However, this does not work well because the wires are so thin and they dont
make contact. You should solder thicker solid core wires to each wire, to make
good contact. NOTE: Both ends of the cable plug into the fingerprint sensor -
verify that you're removing the correct end of it before cutting anything off. Your
wiring order should match the image above with the fingerprint sensor upside
down.

Hardware Serial Wiring

If you have a device with hardware serial, you should use that instead. Often this is
pins #0 and #1

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Next, you'll need to install the Adafruit Fingerprint sensor library (also available from
github) (https://adafru.it/aRz).

Open up the Arduino Library Manager:

Type in Fingerprint until you see the Adafruit Fingerprint library show up!

Click Install! That's it. Now you should be able to select the
File→Examples→Adafruit_Fingerprint→fingerprint example sketch.

Soft & Hard Serial

By default the sketch uses software serial (Arduino UNO & compatibles). If you are
using a device with Hardware Serial, e.g does not have a USB-Serial converter chip,
use that instead! Usually those are on pins 0 & 1

// On Leonardo/Micro or others with hardware serial, use those! #0 is green wire,

#1 is white
// uncomment this line:
#define mySerial Serial1

// For UNO and others without hardware serial, we must use software serial...
// pin #2 is IN from sensor (GREEN wire)
// pin #3 is OUT from arduino (WHITE wire)
// comment these two lines if using hardware serial
//#include &lt;SoftwareSerial.h&gt;
//SoftwareSerial mySerial(2, 3);

If necessary, uncomment/comment lines for hardware serial support

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Upload
Upload it to your Arduino as usual. Open up the serial monitor at 9600 baud and
when prompted place your finger against the sensor that was already enrolled.

You should see the following:

If you can't get 'connected' to the sensor the library says "Did not find fingerprint
sensor :(" Try swapping the RX and TX wires and resetting

The 'confidence' is a score number (from 0 to 255) that indicates how good of a
match the print is, higher is better. Note that if it matches at all, that means the sensor
is pretty confident so you don't have to pay attention to the confidence number
unless it makes sense for high security applications.

Of course you have to have enrolled a fingerprint first! If you did this using the
Windows program, that's good to go. If you have not yet, you should at least have
gotten a Found fingerprint sensor! printout. You can go ahead to the next step
to enroll fingerprints.

If you get Did not find fingerprint sensor :( check your wiring, maybe swap
the RX and TX wire as that's a common issue

If you want to have a more detailed report, change the loop() to run getFingerprintID()
instead of getFingerprintIDez() - that will give you a detailed report of exactly what the
sensor is detecting at each point of the search process.

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Enrolling with Arduino
We did put together a simple sketch for enrolling a new finger via Arduino - its not as
easy to use as the Windows program but it does work!

Run the File→Examples→Adafruit_Fingerprint→enroll sketch and upload it to the

Arduino, use the same wiring as above.

When you open up the serial monitor, it will ask for you to type in the ID to enroll - use
the box up top to type in a number and click Send.

Then go through the enrollment process as indicated. When it has successfully

enrolled a finger, it will print Stored!

Don't forget to do a search test when you're done enrolling to make sure its all good!

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Python & CircuitPython
It's easy to use the optical fingerprint sensor with Python and CircuitPython, and the A
dafruit CircuitPython Fingerprint (https://adafru.it/C4A) module.  This module allows
you to easily write Python code that reads, enrolls or deletes fingerprints.

You can use this sensor with any CircuitPython microcontroller board or with a
computer that has GPIO and Python thanks to Adafruit_Blinka, our CircuitPython-for-
Python compatibility library (https://adafru.it/BSN).

Sensor Wiring
If your sensor has different wires, The
first wire from the left should be the black
wire ground, then the two data pins, RX
is the white wire, TX is the green wire
then the red power wire. You'll have to
cut, strip and solder thicker gauge wires
to the current wires.

If your sensor has all the same-color

wires, The first wire from the left is
ground, then the two data pins, then
power. You'll have to cut, strip and solder
the wires.

RX is the same as the White wire

TX is the same as the Green wire

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In the diagrams below we show the wires plugged directly into the Trinket.
However, this does not work well because the wires are so thin and they dont
make contact. You should solder thicker solid core wires to each wire, to make
good contact. NOTE: Both ends of the cable plug into the fingerprint sensor -
verify that you're removing the correct end of it before cutting anything off. Your
wiring order should match the image above with the fingerprint sensor upside
down.

CircuitPython Microcontroller Wiring

First wire up the fingerprint sensor to your board exactly as shown on the previous
pages for Arduino. Here's an example of wiring a Feather M4 to the sensor with UART:

• Board GND to sensor GND (black

wire)
• Board TX to sensor RX (white wire)
• Board RX to sensor TX (green wire)
• Board 3.3v to sensor VCC (red wire)

Every CircuitPython board has a hardware UART. Check the product page or look for
RX and TX written on the board. Remember that the RX from the sensor goes to the
TX on the board! If you have problems try swapping them, it's a common mistake.

Be aware that SAMD21 and other very-low-memory devices will not be able to
run this example.

Python Computer Wiring

Since there's dozens of Linux computers/boards you can use we will show wiring for
Raspberry Pi. For other platforms, please visit the guide for CircuitPython on Linux to
see whether your platform is supported (https://adafru.it/BSN). 

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Here you have two options: An external USB-to-serial converter, or the built-in UART
on the Pi's TX/RX pins. Here's an example of wiring up the USB-to-serial converter (ht
tps://adafru.it/dDd):

• Sensor VCC (red wire)  to USB 5V

or 3V (red wire on USB console
cable)
• Sensor GND (black wire) to USB
Ground (black wire)
• Sensor RX (white wire) to USB TX
(green wire)
• Sensor TX (green wire) to USB RX
(white wire)

Here's an example using the Pi's built-in UART:

• Pi GND to sensor GND (black wire)

• Pi TX to sensor RX (white wire)
• Pi RX to sensor TX (green wire)
• Pi 3.3v to sensor VCC (red wire)

If you want to use the built-in UART, you'll need to disable the serial console and
enable the serial port hardware in raspi-config. See the UART/Serial section of the
CircuitPython on Raspberry Pi guide (https://adafru.it/CEk) for detailed instructions on
how to do this.

Note SBC boards other than the Raspberry Pi may or may not have a hardware
UART available on thee I/O pins or may have them permanently mapped to the
console, etc. Refer to your board's documentation to see if there is a hardware
UART, where it is located, how to enable it, and if it is available for programming
with a serial device other than the console.

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CircuitPython Fingerprint Library Installation
To use the Fingerprint sensor you'll need to install the Adafruit CircuitPython
Fingerprint (https://adafru.it/C4A) library on your CircuitPython board.

First make sure you are running the latest version of Adafruit CircuitPython (https://
adafru.it/Amd) for your board.

Next you'll need to install the necessary libraries to use the hardware--carefully follow
the steps to find and install these libraries from Adafruit's CircuitPython library bundle 
(https://adafru.it/ENC).  Our introduction guide has a great page on how to install the
library bundle (https://adafru.it/ABU) for both express and non-express boards.

Copy the necessary file from the library bundle to the lib folder on your CIRCUITPY
drive:

• adafruit_fingerprint.mpy

Before continuing make sure your board's lib folder has the adafruit_fingerprint.mpy fi
le copied over.

Next connect to the board's serial REPL  (https://adafru.it/Awz)so you are at the

CircuitPython >>> prompt.

Python Installation of Fingerprint Library

You'll need to install the Adafruit_Blinka library that provides the CircuitPython
support in Python. This may also require enabling the hardware UART on your
platform (see red note above) and verifying you are running Python 3. Since each
platform is a little different, and Linux changes often, please visit the CircuitPython on
Linux guide to get your computer ready (https://adafru.it/BSN)!

Once that's done, from your command line run the following command:

• sudo pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-fingerprint

If your default Python is version 3 you may need to run 'pip' instead. Just make sure
you aren't trying to use CircuitPython on Python 2.x, it isn't supported!

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CircuitPython & Python Usage
To demonstrate the usage of the sensor, we'll use the example python script included
with the library. This sensor is fairly complex so its hard to run it just from the REPL.

CircuitPython Microcontroller Usage

Once you've installed the library, run this code.py example on your CircuitPython
board.

Linux/Computer/Raspberry Pi with Python

If you're running fingerprint_simpletest.py on the Raspberry Pi (or any computer),

you'll have to make some changes.

On the Raspberry Pi, comment out the uart = busio.UART(...) line, and
uncomment the applicable import serial and uart = serial.Serial(...)
lines, depending on whether you're using USB serial or hardware UART.  Now you can
run the program with the following command:

python3 fingerprint_simpletest.py

Example Code
Remember, SAMD21 and other very-low-memory devices will not be able to run
the following example.

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2021 ladyada for Adafruit Industries

# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import time
import board
import busio
from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction
import adafruit_fingerprint

led = DigitalInOut(board.D13)
led.direction = Direction.OUTPUT

uart = busio.UART(board.TX, board.RX, baudrate=57600)

# If using with a computer such as Linux/RaspberryPi, Mac, Windows with USB/serial

converter:
# import serial

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# uart = serial.Serial("/dev/ttyUSB0", baudrate=57600, timeout=1)

# If using with Linux/Raspberry Pi and hardware UART:

# import serial
# uart = serial.Serial("/dev/ttyS0", baudrate=57600, timeout=1)

finger = adafruit_fingerprint.Adafruit_Fingerprint(uart)

##################################################

def get_fingerprint():
"""Get a finger print image, template it, and see if it matches!"""
print("Waiting for image...")
while finger.get_image() != adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
pass
print("Templating...")
if finger.image_2_tz(1) != adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
return False
print("Searching...")
if finger.finger_search() != adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
return False
return True

# pylint: disable=too-many-branches
def get_fingerprint_detail():
"""Get a finger print image, template it, and see if it matches!
This time, print out each error instead of just returning on failure"""
print("Getting image...", end="", flush=True)
i = finger.get_image()
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
print("Image taken")
else:
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.NOFINGER:
print("No finger detected")
elif i == adafruit_fingerprint.IMAGEFAIL:
print("Imaging error")
else:
print("Other error")
return False

print("Templating...", end="", flush=True)

i = finger.image_2_tz(1)
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
print("Templated")
else:
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.IMAGEMESS:
print("Image too messy")
elif i == adafruit_fingerprint.FEATUREFAIL:
print("Could not identify features")
elif i == adafruit_fingerprint.INVALIDIMAGE:
print("Image invalid")
else:
print("Other error")
return False

print("Searching...", end="", flush=True)

i = finger.finger_fast_search()
# pylint: disable=no-else-return
# This block needs to be refactored when it can be tested.
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
print("Found fingerprint!")
return True
else:
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.NOTFOUND:
print("No match found")
else:
print("Other error")

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return False

# pylint: disable=too-many-statements
def enroll_finger(location):
"""Take a 2 finger images and template it, then store in 'location'"""
for fingerimg in range(1, 3):
if fingerimg == 1:
print("Place finger on sensor...", end="", flush=True)
else:
print("Place same finger again...", end="", flush=True)

while True:
i = finger.get_image()
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
print("Image taken")
break
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.NOFINGER:
print(".", end="", flush=True)
elif i == adafruit_fingerprint.IMAGEFAIL:
print("Imaging error")
return False
else:
print("Other error")
return False

print("Templating...", end="", flush=True)

i = finger.image_2_tz(fingerimg)
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
print("Templated")
else:
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.IMAGEMESS:
print("Image too messy")
elif i == adafruit_fingerprint.FEATUREFAIL:
print("Could not identify features")
elif i == adafruit_fingerprint.INVALIDIMAGE:
print("Image invalid")
else:
print("Other error")
return False

if fingerimg == 1:
print("Remove finger")
time.sleep(1)
while i != adafruit_fingerprint.NOFINGER:
i = finger.get_image()

print("Creating model...", end="", flush=True)

i = finger.create_model()
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
print("Created")
else:
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.ENROLLMISMATCH:
print("Prints did not match")
else:
print("Other error")
return False

print("Storing model #%d..." % location, end="", flush=True)

i = finger.store_model(location)
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
print("Stored")
else:
if i == adafruit_fingerprint.BADLOCATION:
print("Bad storage location")
elif i == adafruit_fingerprint.FLASHERR:
print("Flash storage error")
else:
print("Other error")

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return False

return True

##################################################

def get_num():
"""Use input() to get a valid number from 1 to 127. Retry till success!"""
i = 0
while (i > 127) or (i < 1):
try:
i = int(input("Enter ID # from 1-127: "))
except ValueError:
pass
return i

while True:
print("----------------")
if finger.read_templates() != adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
raise RuntimeError("Failed to read templates")
print("Fingerprint templates:", finger.templates)
print("e) enroll print")
print("f) find print")
print("d) delete print")
print("----------------")
c = input("> ")

if c == "e":
enroll_finger(get_num())
if c == "f":
if get_fingerprint():
print("Detected #", finger.finger_id, "with confidence",
finger.confidence)
else:
print("Finger not found")
if c == "d":
if finger.delete_model(get_num()) == adafruit_fingerprint.OK:
print("Deleted!")
else:
print("Failed to delete")

It's fairly long but it will help you set-up and test your sensor!

When you first start up, you should get something like this:

If you get an error like RuntimeError: Failed to read data from sensor it
means something went wrong - check your wiring and baud rate!

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This menu system is fairly simple, you have three things you can do

• Enroll print - you will use your finger to take images and 'store' the model in the
sensor
• Find print - determine whether a fingerprint is known and stored
• Delete print - clear out a model

Enrolling Prints

Enrolling a finger print is easy. Type e to start the process. You'll need to select a
location. The sensor can store up to 127 print locations. Pick a valid number, then
place your finger twice to enroll.

Note that after success, the Fingerprint templates: [...] printout will include the new
template id.

If an error occurs, the sensor will give you an error, such as if the two prints don't
match, or if it failed to store or generate a model:

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Finding Prints
Once you've enrolled fingerprints you can then test them. Run the find command, and
try various fingers! Once the fingerprint id identified it will tell you the location
number, in this case #5

Deleting Fingerprints
If you made a mistake you can remove fingerprint models from the database. For
example, here's how to delete #5. Note the Fingerprint templates: [...] printout
changes!

Python Docs
Python Docs (https://adafru.it/C4C)

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Downloads
• Arduino interface library on github (https://adafru.it/aRz)
• User Manual (https://adafru.it/C4D)
• Datasheet (its not really a great datasheet and its in Chinese, but its better than
nothing) (https://adafru.it/aRB)
• English version of the User Manual (https://adafru.it/C4D)
• "SFGDemo" Windows-only test software (https://adafru.it/aRC)

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