At the core of forensic firearms examinations is the ability to perform bullet-to-bullet comparisons based on microscopic surface features. Automated search and retrieval systems for the comparison of microscopic firearms evidence provide a powerful screening tool for firearms examiners. These systems enable the comparison of large amounts of evidence transforming forensic ballistic analysis from an evidence verification tool into a crime-fighting tool. This paper proposes a 3D characterization of the bullet’s surface as an alternative to a 2D characterization. The paper begins with a discussion on the development and preliminary results obtained with SciClops(tm), an automated microscopic comparison system based on the use of a 3D characterization of the bullet’s surface. This is followed by a brief background on computer-aided comparison of microscopic firearms evidence in general, their main components, and a comparison of 2D versus 3D-based data acquisition techniques. Principles applied and results obtained using 3D-based data acquisition methodologies are presented. The preliminary evaluations indicate that a 3D-based system shows considerable potential. However, in terms of performance the integration of both 2D and 3D data acquisition offers the best of both worlds. Figures and references
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