U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
                            Funding & Awards
 ACEware Latent Fingerprint Identification Research and Software Development.
Note:
              This awardee has received supplemental funding. This award detail page includes information about both the original award and supplemental awards.
Award Information
Awardee
              Noblis, Inc.
Award #
              2013-R2-CX-K011
Funding Category
              Competitive
Location
                    Falls Church, VA
Awardee County
              Fairfax
Congressional District
              11
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2013
Total funding (to date)
              $1,499,848
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY 13 Applied Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2013, $499,942)
Law enforcement organizations vary greatly in how latent print examiners are trained and how operational latent print examination is documented. As underscored by the National Research Council report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, there exists a need for automated tools that can provide more rigorous and consistent training, greater standardization of documentation for operational casework, automated process control and quality assurance, and performance evaluation of latent examiners. The hypothesis exists that if latent print examiners were trained using this state of the art tool, the manner in which they arrive at a conclusion, and the conclusion itself, will be significantly more consistent across the community of latent print examiners. Noblis proposes to develop a software application named ACEware. ACEware will be an Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, and Verification (ACE-V) application software program that would provide a tool for latent print examiner trainees and qualified, case-working latent print examiners to precisely document the examination process, using quantifiable international standards. ACEware will facilitate examiner training, increase the automation and standardization of operational casework, provide a standardized approach for applying the ACE method, facilitate the development of standard datasets for training and evaluation, provide a basis for metric-based quality assurance, and serve as a basis for analytical examiner performance evaluations. ACEware will include the following key capabilities: 
1)  Comprehensive ACE-V training that will include tutorials, examples of markups as determined by skilled examiners, and an interactive training capability
2)  Support a common platform for the latent print community that performs automated operational casework within the ACE-V process, i.e., contemporaneous capture of examiners Analysis to include minutiae, creases, scars, distortion, etc. and all subsequent changes to the original Analysis
3)  Provide compliance with the Extended Feature Set (EFS) format as defined in the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 standard, enabling interoperability with the FBIs Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, all major AFIS vendors, and analytical tools
4)  Include tools to develop and package datasets of annotated finger- and palmprints for training, enabling the development of standard public datasets, and enabling agencies to develop datasets for internal training
5)  Enable latent examiner performance self-evaluation and peer evaluation
6)  Enable direct interoperability between Analysis phase annotation and AFIS searching
7)  Provide a standard platform for collection of data and performance metrics
The project will include an evaluation of the examiner training using ACEware and will provide metrics as to the overall process allowing researchers to develop more effective measures for managing latent print processing. In addition, the development of ACEware will result in the ability to create expert marked data for use by the Research community. The achievement of these goals and objectives will be realized incrementally. ACEware will be developed as an extension of the FBIs Universal Latent Workstation, which was designed and developed by Noblis. By building on ULW, ACEware will be able to take advantage of the extensive capabilities of the ULW platform, and the ACEware functionality and data can be broadly distributed to law enforcement agencies on a no fee basis as ULW has been distributed. In order to validate that the resulting software is operationally relevant, if the ACEware project is funded, the FBI Laboratory and latent print units in other law enforcement agencies with be requested to review, test, and validate ACEware during its development cycle and provide feedback.
ca/ncf
Supplemental Award 1 (Fiscal Year 2014, $999,906)
As submitted by the proposer:
Law enforcement organizations vary greatly in how latent print examiners are trained and how operational latent print examination is documented. As underscored by the National Research Council report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, there exists a need for automated tools that can provide more rigorous and consistent training, greater standardization of documentation for operational casework, automated process control and quality assurance, and performance evaluation of latent examiners. The hypothesis exists that if latent print examiners were trained using this state of the art tool, the manner in which they arrive at a conclusion, and the conclusion itself, will be significantly more consistent across the community of latent print examiners. Noblis proposes to develop a software application named ACEware. ACEware will be an Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, and Verification (ACE-V) application software program that would provide a tool for latent print examiner trainees and qualified, case-working latent print examiners to precisely document the examination process, using quantifiable international standards. ACEware will facilitate examiner training, increase the automation and standardization of operational casework, provide a standardized approach for applying the ACE method, facilitate the development of standard datasets for training and evaluation, provide a basis for metric-based quality assurance, and serve as a basis for analytical examiner performance evaluations. ACEware will include the following key capabilities: 1) Comprehensive ACE-V training that will include tutorials, examples of markups as determined by skilled examiners, and an interactive training capability 2) Support a common platform for the latent print community that performs automated operational casework within the ACE-V process, i.e., contemporaneous capture of examiners Analysis to include minutiae, creases, scars, distortion, etc. and all subsequent changes to the original Analysis 3) Provide compliance with the Extended Feature Set (EFS) format as defined in the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 standard, enabling interoperability with the FBIs Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, all major AFIS vendors, and analytical tools 4) Include tools to develop and package datasets of annotated finger- and palmprints for training, enabling the development of standard public datasets, and enabling agencies to develop datasets for internal training 5) Enable latent examiner performance self-evaluation and peer evaluation 6) Enable direct interoperability between Analysis phase annotation and AFIS searching 7) Provide a standard platform for collection of data and performance metrics The project will include an evaluation of the examiner training using ACEware and will provide metrics as to the overall process allowing researchers to develop more effective measures for managing latent print processing. In addition, the development of ACEware will result in the ability to create expert marked data for use by the Research community. The achievement of these goals and objectives will be realized incrementally. ACEware will be developed as an extension of the FBIs Universal Latent Workstation, which was designed and developed by Noblis. By building on ULW, ACEware will be able to take advantage of the extensive capabilities of the ULW platform, and the ACEware functionality and data can be broadly distributed to law enforcement agencies on a no fee basis as ULW has been distributed. In order to validate that the resulting software is operationally relevant, if the ACEware project is funded, the FBI Laboratory and latent print units in other law enforcement agencies with be requested to review, test, and validate ACEware during its development cycle and provide feedback.   ca/ncf


  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      New Software Improves Rigor of Latent Fingerprint Examination
                  ACEware Latent Fingerprint Identification Research and Software Development




  
Grant-Funded Events
        
                      Impression, Pattern & Trace Evidence

  
Date Created: August 28, 2013
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              Current Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Forthcoming Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Expired Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
    
      
            
            
            
      Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
    
      
            
            
            
      Fellowship & Student Programs
    
      
            
            
            
      Travel Scholarships
    
      
            
            
            
      NIJ Challenge ProgramSimilar Awards
        
                      An Image Analysis Framework for Objective Color Interpretation of Seized Drug Tests
                  Quantitative Assessment of Fracture Characteristics in Blunt Force Skeletal Trauma for Forensic Interpretations
                  Meeting National Safety Council Recommendations: Accurate Rapid Tests and Laboratory Confirmation Procedures for Fentanyl and Prevalent Opioids in Oral Fluid
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov