Researchers in India are developing a pioneering approach to biometrics which they claim can identify individuals by the way they walk.

C Nandini, of the Vidya Vikas Institute of Engineering & Technology, and C N Ravi Kumar, of the S J College of Engineering in Mysore, India, said that human gait typifies the motion characteristics of an individual.

Viewed from the side, we each have a unique gait that makes us "easily recognisable", according to the researchers.

A camera with a side view records a set of key frames, or stances, as an individual completes a full walk cycle.

This can then be converted into silhouette form and analysed with height measurements and the periodicity of the gait to identify the person.

The researchers claim that gait recognition has a "significant advantage" over more well-known biometrics, such as fingerprinting and iris scanning, in that it is entirely unobtrusive and can be used to identify an individual from a distance.

"The ability to identify a possible threat from a distance gives personnel a longer time to react before a possible suspect becomes a real threat," the researchers said.

The team has published details of its framework in the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Biometrics.