Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the last few decades, forensic science has played a significant role in bringing criminals to justice. Shoe and tire track impressions found at the crime scene are important pieces of evidence since the marks and cracks on them can be uniquely tied to a person or vehicle respectively. We have designed a device that can generate a highly accurate 3-Dimensional (3D) map of an impression without disturbing the evidence. The device uses lasers to detect the changes in depth and hence it is crucial to accurately detect the position of the laser. Typically, the forensic applications require very high resolution images in order to be useful in prosecutions of criminals. Limitations of the hardware technology have led to the use of signal and image processing methods to achieve high resolution images. Super Resolution is the process of generating higher resolution images from multiple low resolution images using knowledge about the motion and the properties of the imaging geometry. This thesis presents methods for developing some of the image processing components of the 3D impression scanning device. In particular, the thesis describes the following two components: (i) methods to detect the laser stripes projected onto the impression surface in order to calculate the deformations of the laser stripes due to 3D surface shape being scanned, and (ii) methods to improve the resolution of the digitized color image of the impression by utilizing multiple overlapping low resolution images captured during the scanning process and super resolution techniques.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In crime scene investigations it is necessary to capture images of impression evidence such as tire track or shoe impressions. Currently, such evidence is captured by taking two-dimensional (2D) color photographs or making a physical cast of the impression in order to capture the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the information. This project aims to build a digitizing device that scans the impression evidence and generates (i) a high resolution three-dimensional (3D) surface image, and (ii) a co-registered two-dimensional (2D) color image. The method is based on active structured lighting methods in order to extract 3D shape information of a surface. A prototype device was built that uses an assembly of two line laser lights and a high-definition video camera that is moved at a precisely controlled and constant speed along a mechanical actuator rail in order to scan the evidence. A prototype software was also developed which implements the image processing, calibration, and surface depth calculations. The methods developed in this project for extracting the digitized 3D surface shape and 2D color images include (i) a self-contained calibration method that eliminates the need for pre-calibration of the device; (ii) the use of two colored line laser lights projected from two different angles to eliminate problems due to occlusions; and (iii) the extraction of high resolution color image of the impression evidence with minimal distortion.The system results in sub-millimeter accuracy in the depth image and a high resolution color image that is registered with the depth image. The system is particularly suitable for high quality images of long tire track impressions without the need for stitching multiple images.