Correlation of Topography Measurements of NIST SRM 2460 Standard Bullets by Four Techniques

Published

January 1, 2006

Author(s)

Jun-Feng Song, Theodore V. Vorburger, Thomas Brian Renegar, Hyug-Gyo Rhee, A Zheng, L Ma, John M. Libert, Susan M. Ballou, B Bachrach, K Bogart

Abstract

Three optical instruments including an interferometric microscope, a Nipkow disk confocal microscope and a laser scanning confocal microscope are used for the measurements of bullet profile signatures of a NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) SRM (Standard Reference Material) 2460 standard bullet.  The 2D profile signatures are compared with the virtual bullet signature standard established by the NIST bullet signature measurement system based on a stylus instrument.  The bullet signature differences are quantified by the maximum cross-correlation function CCFmax.  When the compared signatures are exactly the same, CCFmax = 100 %.  Comparison results show close agreement among the four techniques for bullet profile signature measurements.  The average CCFmax values are higher than 90 %.  It demonstrates a possibility of using surface topography techniques for ballistic identifications as an alternative to the current technology based on image comparisons.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the 2005 International Symposium on Measurement Technology and Intelligent Instrumentation

Volume

17

Conference Dates

September 5-9, 2005

Conference Location

Huddersfield, 1, UK

Conference Title

International Symposium on Measurement Technology and Intelligent Instrumentation

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

ballistics identification, bullet signature, standard bullet, surface topography

Citation

Song, J. , Vorburger, T. , Renegar, T. , Rhee, H. , Zheng, A. , Ma, L. , Libert, J. , Ballou, S. , Bachrach, B. and Bogart, K. (2006), Correlation of Topography Measurements of NIST SRM 2460 Standard Bullets by Four Techniques, Proceedings of the 2005 International Symposium on Measurement Technology and Intelligent Instrumentation, Huddersfield, 1, UK (Accessed October 8, 2025)