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Deutsches Museum Digital

3D-Cipher

3D-CT digitalisation of historical cipher machines

3d-cipher_C_Fraunhofer IIS_SG 41_01_klein.jpg

Image: © Fraunhofer IIS

The application of computed tomography to research museums objects has increased rapidly in recent years. The Deutsches Museum used CT technology in the 3D-Cipher projekt (10/2020–09/2023) to gain insights into the cipher devices in its cryptological collection.

The BMBF founded project continued the CT efforts of the Deutsches Museum, such as those of the Messerschmitt Me 163. The generated data is stored sustainably and used creatively for both research and educational purposes.

Since computed tomography is based on X-ray technology, objects can be scanned three-dimensionally. Therefore CT enables non-destructive insights into the devices, something that is not possivle with other 3D digitilisation methods (photogrammetry, laser scans).

All high-resolution CT datasets can be downloaded under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence and used for research purposes. In addition, all scanned cipher devices are uploaded to a CT web viewer and can be found on the MorphoSource data repository. The knowledge gained in the project has been summarised and documented as a best practice use case.