Adaptive Electric Current Computed Tomography System

本提案旨在继续设计、建造和测试一个原型电流计算机断层扫描（EECT）系统。该系统通过人体表面的一系列电极应用电流模式，并记录这些电极上产生的电压。根据测量的电压，系统生成并显示人体电导率的近似重建。为了达到理论预测的最大信噪比，该系统是自适应的，因为施加在身体上的电流的连续模式是由先前的电压测量和优化重建算法确定的。这项提议的研究对工程和医学成像的直接影响将是证明可以建立一个自适应系统，并使其产生图像结构，达到PI理论预测的分辨率。长期影响将是创造比现有工艺更高分辨率的阻抗成像系统。更高分辨率的系统将产生更强大的医学诊断工具，以及在无损检测、地球物理勘探和多孔介质流动中更有用的成像技术。

This proposal seeks to continue the design, construction, and testing of a prototype electric current computed tomography (EECT) system. This system applies patterns of electric current through an array of electrodes on the surface of a body, and records the voltages that result on those electrodes. From these measured voltages the system generates and displays an approximate reconstruction of the electrical conductivity within the body. In order to achieve the theoretically predicted maximum signal-to-noise ratio, this system is adaptive in the sense that the successive patterns of current applied to the body are determined from the previous voltage measurements and the optimization-reconstruction algorithm. The immediate impact of this proposed research on engineering and medical imaging will be the demonstration that an adaptive system can be built and made to yield image constructions that achieve the resolution predicted by the PI's theory. The long term impact will be the creation of higher resolution impedance imaging systems than are possible with existing processes. Higher resolution systems will yield more powerful diagnostic tools in medicine, as well as more useful imaging techniques in nondestructive testing, geophysical exploration, and flow through porous media.