E-Mail:

Researchers Give High Marks To New Technology For Fingerprint Identification

Monday, April 27th, 2009 by Lockergnome at 6:50am
1 Response (Add)

Overworked crime scene investigators can take heart at the results of recent tests at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of new technologies that automate the manual portion of latent fingerprint identification. Prototype systems evaluated by NIST performed surprisingly well for a developing technology: half of the prototypes were accurate at least 80 percent of the time and one had a near perfect score. Automating the manual portion of the work frees up time for trained examiners to spend time on very difficult images that the software has little hope of processing.

As any TV crime series fan knows, latent prints are left behind any time someone touches something. While ubiquitous, “latents” often include only part of the finger—maybe just a few ridges—and sometimes are left on textured materials, adding even more challenges.

To identify the owner, a fingerprint examiner must first carefully mark the distinguishing features of the full or partial print, beginning with the positions where ridges end or branch. Then the latent is entered into a counter-terrorist or law enforcement identification system such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). The FBI’s system compares latents against the 55 million sets of ten-print cards taken at arrest.

The IAFIS system was a significant advance. Now the manual, mark-up portion of latent fingerprint identification is being automated with an emerging technology called Automatic Feature Extraction and Matching (AFEM). NIST biometric researchers assessed prototypes that eight vendors are developing.

In the evaluation, researchers used a data set of 835 latent prints and 100,000 fingerprints that have been used in real case examinations.

The AFEM software extracted the distinguishing features of the latent prints, then compared them against 100,000 fingerprints. For each print the software provided a list of 50 candidates that the fingerprint specialists compared by hand. Most identities were found within the top 10.

In order of performance, the most accurate prototypes were furnished by NEC Corp., Cogent Inc., SPEX Forensics, Inc., Motorola, Inc. and L1 Identity Solutions. Results ranged from nearly 100 percent for the most accurate product to around 80 percent for the last three listed.

The evaluations also showed a strong correlation between the number of distinguishing features in a latent print and its ability to match for all prototypes and that the quality of the image data strongly influences accuracy.

“While the testing has demonstrated accuracy beyond pre-test expectations, the potential of the technology remains undefined and further testing is required,” said computer scientist Patrick Grother. “In the future we will look at lower quality latent images to understand the technology’s limitations and we will support development of a standardized feature set that extends the one currently used by examiners for searches.”

[Evelyn Brown @ National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)]

Tags
Categories

One Comment

Vinyl Android ~ Windows Fanatics

April 28th, 2009
at 4:04pm

[...] Researchers are giving high marks to new fingerprint identification technology. [...]

What Do You Think?

 

Posted Recently

Research Reveals Link Between Beer And Bone Health

Medicare Reimbursement Change Meant To Save Money Has Opposite Effect

Length Of Time In Institutional Care May Influence Children’s Learning

Online Programs Improve Fruit And Vegetable Consumption

How The Butterflies Got Their Spots

Study Finds That Immigration Doesn’t Threaten US-Born Students’ Chances At College

It Looks, Feels, and Tastes Like Chicken, But It’s Made Of Soy

Pentagon And Congress Should Act Quickly To End Gay Military Ban, APA Says

New Material Absorbs, Conserves Oil

Detecting Cancer Early

Natural Gas Supplies Could Be Augmented With Methane Hydrate

‘Peter Pan’ Apes Never Seem To Learn Selfishness

Excessive Internet Use Is Linked To Depression

Haiti Earthquake A Reminder That Disasters Are Preventable

Growing Cartilage – No Easy Task

Code Defends Against ‘Stealthy’ Computer Worms

Whole Grain Consumption By Teens And Young Adults Falls Short Of Guidelines

Managed Wolf Populations Could Restore Ecosystems

Can Blocking A Frown Keep Bad Feelings At Bay?

Smokers At Risk From Their Own ‘Second-Hand’ Smoke

Seabed Biodiversity Of The Straits Of Magellan And Drake Passage

A Gimmick-Free Weight Loss Pill In The Works

Green Plant Transport Mystery Solved

Recognition Of Facial Expressions Is Not Universal

Childhood Obesity Alone May Increase Risk Of Later Cardiovascular Disease

Sweet Future: Fluctuating Blood Glucose Levels May Affect Decision Making

Technique For Preserving Pre-Transplant Livers Improves Outcomes And Organ Pool

Human Running Speeds Of 35 To 40 MPH May Be Biologically Possible

Do Children Need Both A Mother And A Father?

Genetics Helps To Crack Down On Chimpanzee Smuggling

‘Survival Of The Cutest’ Proves Darwin Right

First Evidence That Blueberry Juice Improves Memory In Older Adults

Providing Good Customer Service Is Key To Surviving Down Economy

Gorillas Carry Malignant Malaria Parasite, Study Reports

Those Less Motivated To Achieve Will Excel On Tasks Seen As Fun

Yasuni National Park One Of The Most Biodiverse Places On Earth

School Burnout

Unusual Snail Shell Could Be A Model For Better Armor

Appendicitis May Be Related To Viral Infections

Resources To Solve The Housing Crisis In Haiti May Already Be On Hand