Method, apparatus, and article to facilitate distributed evaluation of objects using electromagnetic energy

A method of operating an authentication system for facilitating remote authentication of objects, the method comprising:

• receiving at the authentication system a set of object authentication reference data from a remote entity, the set of object authentication reference data representing reference responses of various reference objects to at least one sequence of illumination with electromagnetic energy by a plurality of illumination sources at a plurality of different bands of wavelengths;
• locally storing the received set of object authentication reference data in at least one non-transitory processor-readable storage medium;
• and
• providing by at least one processor of the authentication system remote access to the locally stored set of object authentication reference data on a fee basis.

A method of operating a testing device to authenticate objects, the method comprising:

• at a testing device, downloading a first subset of object authentication reference data at a first time from a remote set of object authentication reference data that is remote with respect to the testing device, the object authentication reference data indicative of a response of at least one reference object to emission of electromagnetic energy in a plurality of bands;
• at the testing device, operating at least one source of the testing device according to a first sequence during a first period to emit electromagnetic energy towards a first object to be authenticated in a plurality of bands defined by the first sequence;
• at the testing device, capturing electromagnetic energy returned from the first object to be authenticated during the first period with at least one sensor of the testing device;
• at the testing device, comparing the captured electromagnetic energy to at least a portion of the subset of object authentication reference data by at least one processor of the testing device;
• and
• at the testing device, determining a first authentication result based on the comparing of the test data to the first subset of object authentication reference data, the first authentication result indicative of whether the first object to be authenticated is authentic.

A method of operating an authentication system including at least one processor and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium to authenticate objects to be authenticated using electromagnetic energy, the method comprising:

• determining a plurality of responses by at least one reference object to respective ones of a plurality of bands of electromagnetic radiation by the at least one processor;
• storing the determined responses by the at least one reference object to the respective ones of the plurality of bands of electromagnetic radiation in the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;
• based at least in part on a first sequence of illumination at each of a plurality of different wavelengths for an object that is the subject of evaluation, determining at least one expected response from the stored responses by the at least one processor;
• comparing a response from the object that is the subject of evaluation to the at least one determined expected response by the at least one processor;
• and
• determining whether the object to be authenticated is authentic based at least in part on the comparing of the response from the object to the at least one determined expected response by the at least one processor.