FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION USING IMAGE-ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUES

This report presents an application of image enhancement techniques in fingerprints as a tool for forensic sciences. Digital image processin g technology was applied to restore fingerprints with non-uniform cont rast. Whenever the results obtained by applying conventional enhanceme nt techniques were not satisfactory, we combined spatial domain as wel l as frequency domain techniques in order to enhance the features that allowed later identification. The fingerprints correspond to a person who was murdered by military forces in 1976. The processed fingerprin ts where sent to the Court of Justice where forensic experts could fin ally find out the identity of a person who had been unknown until that moment.