Toward automated forensic fracture matching of snap-off blade knives

Davy Hollevoet; Patrick De Smet; Johan De Bock; Wilfried Philips

doi:10.1117/12.794893

11 August 2008 Toward automated forensic fracture matching of snap-off blade knives

Davy Hollevoet, Patrick De Smet, Johan De Bock, Wilfried Philips

Proceedings Volume 7064, Interferometry XIV: Applications; 70640Q (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.794893
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2008, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

An interesting problem that has concerned forensic scientist for many years, is their need for accurate, reliable and objective methods for performing fracture matching examinations. The aim of these fracture matching methods is to determine if two broken object halves can be matched together, e.g., when one half is recovered at a crime scene, while the other half is found in the possession of a suspect. In this paper we discuss the use of a commercial white-light profilometer system for obtaining 2D/3D image surface scans of multiple fractured objects. More specifically, we explain the use of this system for digitizing the fracture surface of multiple facing halves of several snap-off blade knives. Next, we discuss the realization and evaluation of several image processing methods for trying to match the obtained image scans corresponding to each of the broken off blade elements used in our experiments. The algorithms that were tested and evaluated include: global template matching based on image correlation and multiple template matching based on local image correlation, using so-called "vote-map" computation. Although many avenues for further research still remain possible, we show that the second method yields very good results for allowing automated searching and matching of the imaged fracture surfaces for each of the examined blade elements.

Citation Download Citation

Davy Hollevoet, Patrick De Smet, Johan De Bock, and Wilfried Philips "Toward automated forensic fracture matching of snap-off blade knives", Proc. SPIE 7064, Interferometry XIV: Applications, 70640Q (11 August 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.794893

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available