Question : Problem: what hardware is needed to deploy fingerprint recognition code for access door?

hi,
First of all, I do not know if this is the right place to ask my question, please redirect me to right place if it's not.
I have developed a fingerprint recognition under matlab environment, the solution works fine (I have tested it for 50 different fingerprints)..
Now, I wanna deploy the solution on a circuit with electronic door lock so, what circuit would I need that would support heavy computations for image processing? and is there any circuit that would support matlab source code (m-file, jave, c++, or even c#.net source code ).

note that I have a limited background about micro-controllers and digital circuits.

I was thinking that if I connect an electronic lock directly with my PC in my home within the COM port and leave my PC turned on all time, so if the fingerprint solution fires that the person verified, the solution would send a signal to electronic door lock to open, otherwise, it don't.

But I want do the same with an embedded system that do not rely on PC.

Answer : Problem: what hardware is needed to deploy fingerprint recognition code for access door?

You may want to look at the Atom based boards that Intel just released.  As compared to a lot of embedded system boards it is quite inexpensive - usually between $70-80 and is quite powerful (for what it is).  It is even far less expensive than most of the VIA mini-ITX boards which range about $150 and up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342&Tpk=atom

Logic Supply carry a lot of mini-ITX parts to give you an idea of what is available,

http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/mainboards

You would still need a relay control board for controlling the lock power.  I would suggest going with something that also gives you some inputs in case you need other contact input like door open/close status.  These guys have reasonable priced boards in just about any form you could want RS-232 to networked to wireless.

http://www.controlanything.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=NCD&Category_Code=RS232_Relay_Controllers

In microcontrollers/single board computers/embedded systems you can usually get evaluation boards or development kits for a particular controller.  This would normally include all the software and hardware you would need to get started.  Cost varies from a few hundred to thousands depending on the platform.

Here's a list of a number of outfits that supply software/hardware,

http://www.microcontroller.com/EmbeddedSystems.asp?c=17

Here's some examples of kits,

http://www.keil.com/boards/

Here's a fairly powerful embedded board from Axis (I believe this is the same/similar platform they use for thier IP camera's/video servers),  runs embedded linux and comes with SDK.  Not sure of cost but it will be more than the Atom mini-ITX board.

http://www.axis.com/products/dev_82p/index.htm

I would be cautious about a choice in this area as was mentioned - a lot of these controllers are not really geared toward heavy number crunching.  They also may lack sufficient memory for data storage.  It would be real annoying if it takes your lock system 20 seconds to process the read or can only remember one pattern.

Many embedded systems use a cut down linux OS.  This is helpful as as you can often work with regular linux then port the code onto the cut down linux without too much work.  .net, java or C# are too 'fat' for this kind of environment.  I do not use matlab (or not in a very very long time) but I would guess it is high level so expect to be writing some code for very basic operations that are 'automatic' in matlab.  C is probably the most commonly used for this type of work.

To give you some idea here is a reader module that uses a 32 bit RISC processor.  This is likely using very optimized code as compared to what matlab is doing but would be the kind of power you would need.

http://www.bioenable.co.in/standalone_fingerprint_module_fda01_india.htm