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Projects :: FIVES

FIVES: Forensic Image and Video Examination Support

The FIVES project will develop a self-contained tool set that is easy to use and focus on speed and efficient execution to help the police investigators analysing large amounts of data.

Police investigations of child sexual abuse cases often face the problem of handling large amounts of seized equipment. To look for illegal images and videos or other investigative leads in the large amounts of data found on seized storage devices is typically a slow and tedious work. An average investigation could have several terabytes of data stored in different media and formats. The objective of the FIVES project is to develop novel investigative tools specifically tailored for investigations involving images and videos of child sexual abuse.

The FIVES tool set will allow police and law-enforcement agencies to:

• speed up the process of handling very large amounts of evidence material on seized computers, and separate previously known illegal material from new, potentially illegal, material by efficient file and file fragment matching.
• efficiently evaluate large amounts of new material by employing perceptual optimization techniques. This aims to minimize the human effort needed when classifying new material.
• improve the capability of linking new illegal images and video to previously known material by using object matching and image similarity techniques to allow details of crime scenes to be linked between different image sets or videos. This facilitates the widening of investigations with the aim of rescuing the victims of sexual abuse.

The tools will be based on already existing research and software created by the academic partners that will be adapted, extended and integrated into an easy to use tool set that fits the police requirements. The project's technical work packages will create a forensic engine that provides base functionality, and a number of modules. One module will provide new file fragment matching functionality, and others will provides specialized image and video handling functionality to support police work. There are also work packages for performing a user requirements study and end-user field tests as well as for ensuring sustainability of project results after the end of the project.

The expected end result of the FIVES project is a self-contained tool set distribution that is easy to use and that supports easy translation to languages across Europe. The FIVES tool set will have an impact both on front-end investigations and on more specialized investigations by providing easy to use, new and powerful investigative functionality, with a focus on speed and efficient execution.

Last update: 29/11/2010

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