Abstract: Examiners in the Special Photographic Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory Division conduct examinations of questioned photographic evidence of all types, including surveillance imagery recorded on film and video tape. A primary type of examination includes side-by- side comparisons, in which unknown objects or people depicted in the questioned images are compared with known objects recovered from suspects or with photographs of suspects themselves. Most imagery received in the SPU for such comparisons originate from time-lapse video or film systems. In such circumstances, the delay between sequential images is so great that standard image summing and/or averaging techniques are useless as a means of improving image detail in questioned subjects or objects without also resorting to processing-intensive pattern reconstruction algorithms. Occasionally, however, the receipt of real-time video imagery will include a questioned object at rest. In such cases, it is possible to use relatively simple image averaging techniques as a means of reducing transient noise in the images, without further compromising the already-poor resolution inherent in most video surveillance images. This paper presents an example of one such case in which multiple images were averaged to reduce the transient noise to a sufficient degree to permit the positive identification of a vehicle based upon the presence of scrape marks and dents on the side of the vehicle.!1
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