THREE DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF IMAGES OF INTERIOR OBJECTS

COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (CT), A TECHNIQUE FOR RECONSTRUCTING THEINTERIOR OF AN OBJECT FROM MEASUREMENTS OF ITS LINE INTEGRALS (OR PROJECTIONS), IS INCREASINGLY BEING APPLIED INRESEARCH AND IN NON-DESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION OF INDUSTRIAL OBJECTS. TO HANDLE THE INCREASED SPATIAL RESOLUTION AND THROUGHPUT REQUIREMENTS OF THESE APPLICATIONS, CT SCANNERS MAY BE ABLE TO USE AREA DETECTORS INSTEAD OF THE SINGLE LINEDETECTORS NOW USED. THESE ALLOW THE PROJECTIONS OF A COMPLETE VOLUME TO BE MEASURED SIMULTANEOUSLY. WITH THESE AREA DETECTORS, THE LINE INTEGRALS ARE MEASURED ON LINES DIVERGING FROM A SINGLE POINT (OR A CONE BEAM) INSTEAD OF LINES IN A PLANE. THE RECONSTRUCTION ALGORITHMS DEVELOPED FOR A TWO DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS CAN NOT BE APPLIED. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP AN EFFICIENT AND ACCURATE CONE BEAM RECONSTRUCTION ALGORITHM BASED ON FOURIER TECHNIQUES. THE WORK WILL BUILD ON A RIGOROUS AND ACCURATE MATHEMATICAL BACKGROUND AND ON ARACOR'S SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE OF THE FOURIER RECONSTRUCTIONTECHNIQUES. THE POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF THE TECHNIQUE ARE TO MANUFACTURING AND TO RESEARCH. IN MANUFACTURING, THE TECHNOLOGY CAN BE USED TO DEVELOP INSTRUMENTS FOR STATISTICAL QUALITY ASSURANCE MEASUREMENTS. THE ABILITY TO MEASURE THE INTERIOR OF OBJECTS NONDESTRUCTIVELY IS A UNIQUECAPABILITY THAT SHOULD SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE MANUFACTURING CAPABILITIES OF OUR NATION. THIS SAME CAPABILITY CAN OPEN IMPORTANT NEW RESEARCH AREAS. APPLICATIONS ARE AS VARIED AS MANUFACTURING OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR AEROSPACE, MANUFACTURING OF MULTILAYER ELECTRONIC PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS, AND RESEARCH INTO THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PLANT ROOTS AND SOIL.