Citation

Liscio E, Le Q, Guryn H. J. Forensic Sci. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.14144

PMID

31361329

Abstract

With three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning technology and software packages, the practice of documenting and measuring bullet trajectories has benefited from greater accuracy and reproducibility. This study investigated the accuracy and reproducibility of the bullet trajectory tools in the software package, FARO Zone 3D (FZ3D). Twelve participants were provided laser scanner data for 21 bullet trajectories on drywall panels with impact angles between 25° and 90°. When the impact plane was manually aligned by the operator, 75% of the absolute errors were within 0.91° and 0.98° for the azimuth and vertical angles, respectively. The vertical angle improved to 0.47° when impact plane alignment was taken with respect to gravity (no operator influence). Thus, manual alignment is shown to be subject to greater error than alignment with gravity. However, this study shows that the accuracy and reproducibility of the FZ3D bullet trajectory tools to be comparable with previous research studies.

© 2019 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

3D forensics; FARO Zone 3D; ballistics; bullet trajectory; forensic science; shooting reconstruction