Impact of environmental factors on biometric matching during human decomposition

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/BTAS.2016.7791177· OSTI ID:1361285

Bolme, David S ^[1]; Tokola, Ryan A ^[1]; Boehnen, Chris Bensing ^[1]; Saul, Tiffany B ^[1]; Sauerwein, Kelly A ^[1]; Steadman, Dawnie W ^[1]

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1. ORNL

Automatic recognition systems are a valuable tool for identifying unknown deceased individuals. Immediately af- ter death fingerprint and face biometric samples are easy to collect using standard sensors and cameras and can be easily matched to anti-mortem biometric samples. Even though post-mortem fingerprints and faces have been used for decades, there are no studies that track these biomet- rics through the later stages of decomposition to determine the length of time the biometrics remain viable. This paper discusses a multimodal dataset of fingerprints, faces, and irises from 14 human cadavers that decomposed outdoors under natural conditions. Results include predictive models relating time and temperature, measured as Accumulated Degree Days (ADD), and season (winter, spring, summer) to the predicted probably of automatic verification using a commercial algorithm.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: ORNL work for others
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1361285
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English