3-D Scanning Brings the Future of Fingerprinting
A new touchless fingerprinting system is faster and more accurate than rolling your fingertips on an ink pad Fingerprinting with ink or even sensor plates poses a chore for everyone involved, except possibly 10-year-old kids. But that could change with a 3-D system that projects light patterns onto a finger and analyzes the image within a second. The method works by beaming a series of striped lines so that they wrap around a finger. A 1.4 megapixel camera captures the lines at almost 1,000 pixels per inch, and creates a highly detailed 3-D map of the fingerprint ridges and valleys. Related Articles The Science of Forensics PopCSI: Uncovering PopSci's Forensic Past Catching Crooks With Salt Tags SciTech, Jeremy Hsu, 3-D, fingerprints, imaging, law enforcement, scanning, touchless