Fingerprint-based biometric is the most proven technique and has the largest market shares. Current automated fingerprint recognition systems usually adopt the contact acquisition mode, and 2D fingerprint features are extracted and used for authentication. The performance (e.g. recognition accuracy) is still much lower than the expectations of people and theory estimation. Many new requirements are also raised along with more and more adoption of fingerprint technique in civilian applications, such as template security, hygiene, user-friendly and so on. For the purpose of further meeting people’s needs (e.g. recognition accuracy, template security, and hygiene etc.), this project proposes a contactless 3D Automated Fingerprint Recognition System (AFRS). Through collecting fingerprint images in a contactless manner, the system successfully resolved the template security issue caused by fingerprints left behind, as well as the hygiene problem due to the need of contact between the human finger and the acquisition sensor. Meanwhile, 3D fingerprint images are generated by a newly designed 3D reconstruction technique specific to fingerprint images. It helps to expand the current fingerprint 2D features into 3D space, and makes 3D fingerprint feature extraction possible. Finally, the recognition accuracy of the proposed 3D AFRS is improved by matching 3D fingerprint features, and fusing with the existing 2D fingerprint features. The project is expected to achieve 3D fingerprint recognition technology, so as to promote the development of new generation fingerprint recognition techniques in our country.