Systematic use of
infrared imaging characterizes marks made on items and identifies the particular marking tool with better accuracy than use of visual imaging.
Infrared imaging performed in total
darkness eliminates shadows, glint, and other lighting variations and artifacts associated with
visible imaging. Although normally used to obtain temperature measurements, details in IR imagery result from
emissivity variations as well as thermal variations. Disturbing an item's surface texture creates an
emissivity difference producing local changes in the
infrared image. Identification is most accurate when IR images of unknown marks are compared to IR images of marks made by known tools. However,
infrared analysis offers improvements even when only visual reference images are available. Comparing simultaneous infrared and visual images of an unknown item, such as bullet or shell casing, can detect illumination-induced artifacts in the visual image prior to searching the visual
database, thereby reducing potential erroneous matches. Computer numerically controlled positioning of the toolmark relative to imaging sensors which use fixed
focus optics with shallow
depth of focus, varying focus distance and orientation systematically to construct a sequence of images, maximizes reliability of resulting images and their comparisons.