Power grid fluctuations hidden in audio recordings proved a powerful tool for police forensics

Audio and video recordings are important sources of evidence in criminal investigations, especially as more electronic devices are in use now than ever before. However, for recordings to be admissible, investigators often need to determine the time they were made, which can be difficult. Now, a team led by Vrizlynn Thing at the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), in collaboration with the Singapore Police Force, has developed an impressive new system that reliably estimates the time of recordings by identifying small fluctuations in the frequency of the electrical power grid.