• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.249-255
• /
• 2022

Positron emission tomography for small animals has very high spatial resolution for imaging very small organs. To achieve good spatial resolution, the system must be constructed using very small scintillation pixels. When a detector is constructed using very small scintillation pixels, the size of the applicable array varies depending on the photosensor pixel. In a previous study, a study was conducted to find the maximum scintillation pixel arrangement according to the size of the photosensor. In this study, a detector with a light guide was designed to configure the detector using a more extended array of scintillation pixels, and try to find the maximum arrangement in which all scintillation pixels are imaged. The detector was designed using DETECT2000, which can simulate a detector made of a scintillator. Simulations were performed by configuring the detectors from an 11 × 11 scintillation pixel array to a 16 × 16 array. After obtaining a flood image by collecting the light generated from the scintillation pixel with a photosensor, the largest arrangement without overlap was found through image analysis. As a result, the largest arrangement in which all scintillation pixels could be distinguished without overlapping was a 15 × 15 arrangement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.749-754
• /
• 2021

In order to maximize the matching ratio between the scintillation pixel and the photosensor of the PET detector using a small number of photosensor, various arrays of scintillation pixels and four photosensors were used. The array of scintillation pixels consisted of six cases from 6 × 6 to 11 × 11. The distance between the photosensors was applied equally to all scintillation pixels, and the arrangement was expanded by reducing the size of scintillation pixel. DETECT2000 capable of light simulation was used to acquire flood images of the designed PET detectors. At the center of each scintillation pixel array, light generated through the interaction between extinction radiation and scintillation pixels was generated, and the light was detected through for four photosensors, and then a flood image was reconstructed. Through the reconstructed flood image, we found the largest arrangement in which all the scintillation pixels can be distinguished. As a result, it was possible to distinguish all the scintillation pixels in the flood image of 8 × 8 scintillation pixel array, and from the 9 × 9 scintillation pixel flood image, the two edge scintillation pixels overlapped and appeared in the image. At this time, the matching ratio between the scintillation pixel and the photosensor was 16:1. When a PET system is constructed using this detector, the number of photosensors used is reduced and the cost of the oveall system is expected to be reduced through the simplification of the signal processing circuit.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.44-53
• /
• 2015

Since the technology of current image sensors is limited to the megapixel class, it is necessary to use an image-stitching technique to create a gigapixel image from hundreds or thousands of photos taken by a megapixel image sensor. In this paper, we investigate the entire process of gigapixel camera technology employing a robotic panoramic head plus a stitching technique, and analyze the gigapixel camera technologies of Duke University and BAE Systems from the viewpoint of optical design structure. Hopefully this knowledge will lead to a new optical structure for a gigapixel camera. Meanwhile, we also perceive the need for additional image processing to reduce the noise of photos with a background of fog and mist, taken far from the camera lens.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.523-529
• /
• 2023

In order to achieve excellent spatial resolution, very small scintillation pixels are used in detectors of positron emission tomography for small animals. However, by using these very small scintillation pixels, scintillation pixels at the edge of the array may overlap in a flood image. To solve this problem, a light guide capable of changing the distribution of light was used. Depending on the material of the light guide, the light spreading tendency is different, and accordingly, the presence or absence of overlapping is different depending on the material of the light guide used. In this study, instead of the conventional glass light guide, a detector using the same material as the scintillation pixel was designed. A scintillator light guide has a higher refractive index than a glass light guide, so the light spread is different. Flood images were acquired to evaluate the degree of separation of the scintillation pixels at the edge of the detector using the two light guides. The degree of separation was evaluated by calculating the distance between the center and the spatial resolution of the image of two scintillation pixels at the edge of the obtained flood image. As a result, when the scintillator light guide was used, better spatial resolution was shown, and the distance between centers of scintillation pixels was wider. When a detector is constructed using a scintillator light guide instead of a conventional glass light guide, it is possible to use a smaller scintillation pixel, thereby securing better spatial resolution.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.157-162
• /
• 2022

Since preclinical positron emission tomography imaging is performed on small animals that are very small compared to the human body, a detector with excellent spatial resolution is required. For this purpose, a system was constructed using a detector using small scintillation pixels. Since the size of the currently developed and used photosensors is limited, excellent spatial resolution can be obtained when the minimum scintillation pixel and maximum array are used. In this study, the size of the photosensor is fixed and various scintillation pixel arrays are configured to match the size of the scintillation pixels, so that no overlap occurs in the flood image and the maximum scintillation pixel array in which all scintillation pixels are distinguished. For this purpose, DETECT2000, which can simulate a detector module composed of a scintillator and an photosensor, was used. A photosensor consisting of a 4 × 4 array of 3 mm × 3 mm pixels was used, and the scintillation pixel array was configured from 8 × 8 to 13 × 13, and simulations were performed. A flood image was constructed using the data obtained from the photosensor pixel, and the maximum scintillation pixel array that does not overlap the image was found through the flood image and the profile. As a result, the size of the scintillation pixel array in which all scintillation pixels are imaged without overlapping each other in the flood image was 11 × 11.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
• /
• v.50 no.7
• /
• pp.149-156
• /
• 2013

This paper presents a hardware edge detector of image signal at pixel level of CMOS image sensor (CIS). The circuit detects edges of an image based on a bump circuit combining with the pixels. The APS converts light into electrical signals and the bump circuit compares the brightness between the target pixel and its neighbor pixels. Each column on CIS 64 by 64 pixels array shares a comparator. The comparator decides a peak level of the target pixel comparing with a reference voltage. The proposed edge detector is implemented using 0.18um CMOS technology. The circuit shows higher fill factor 34% and power dissipation by 0.9uW per pixel at 1.8V supply.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.697-702
• /
• 2022

For imaging in positron emission tomography(PET), it is necessary to measure the position of the scintillation pixel interacting with the gamma rays incident on the detector. To this end, in the conventional system, a flood image of the scintillation pixel is obtained, the imaged area of each scintillation pixel is separated, and the position of the scintillation pixel is specified and acquired as a digital signal. In this study, a deep learning method was applied based on the signal formed by the photosensor of the detector, and a method was developed to directly acquire a digital signal without going through various procedures. DETECT2000 simulation was performed to verify this and evaluate the accuracy of position measurement. A detector was constructed using a 6 × 6 scintillation pixel array and a 4 × 4 photosensor, and a gamma ray event was generated at the center of the scintillation pixel and summed into four channels of signals through the Anger equation. After training the deep learning model using the acquired signal, the positions of gamma-ray events that occurred in different depth directions of the scintillation pixel were measured. The results showed accurate results at every scintillation pixel and position. When the method developed in this study is applied to the PET detector, it will be possible to measure the position of the scintillation pixel with a digital signal more conveniently.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.712-717
• /
• 2013

In this paper, we propose a performance-enhanced object recognition by using nonlinear 3D correlator based on pixel restoration. In the proposed method, elemental images of the 3D target that are partially occluded by a foreground object are picked up and transformed into sub-images. By using the block-matching algorithm, the occluded target regions of each sub-image are estimated and removed. After that, the missing pixels in each sub-image are reestablished by using the pixel-restoration method. Finally, through the nonlinear cross-correlations between the reconstructed reference and the target plane images, the improved object recognition can be performed. To show the feasibility of the proposed method, some preliminary experiments are carried out and results are presented by comparing the conventional method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.11-16
• /
• 2023

In preclinical positron emisson tomography(PET), spatial resolution degradation occurs outside the field of view(FOV). To solve this problem, a depth of interaction(DOI) detector was developed that measures the position where gamma rays and the scintillator interact. There are a method in which a scintillation pixel array is composed of multiple layers, a method in which photosensors are arranged at both ends of a single layer, a method in which a scintillation pixel array is constituted in several layers and a photosensor is arranged in each layer. In this study, a new type of DOI detector was designed by analyzing the characteristics of the previously developed detectors. In the two-layer detector, different sizes of scintillation pixels were used for each layer, and the array size was configured differently. When configured in this form, the positions of the scintillation pixels for each layer are arranged to be shifted from each other, so that they are imaged at different positions in a flood image. DETECT2000 simulation was performed to confirm the possibility of measuring the depth of interaction of the designed detector. A flood image was reconstructed from a light signal acquired by a gamma-ray event generated at the center of each scintillation pixel. As a result, it was confirmed that all scintillation pixels for each layer were separated from the reconstructed flood image and imaged to measure the interaction depth. When this detector is applied to preclinical PET, it is considered that excellent images can be obtained by improving spatial resolution.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2021

In order to acquire an image in a positron emission tomography, it is necessary to draw the position coordinates of the scintillation pixels of the detector module measured at the same time. To this end, in a detector module using a plurality of scintillation pixels and a small number of photosensors, it is necessary to obtain a flood image and divide a region of each scintillation pixel to obtain a position of a scintillation pixel interacting with a gamma ray. Alternatively, when the number of scintillation pixels and the number of photosensors to be used are the same, the position coordinates for the position of the scintillation pixels can be directly acquired as digital signal coordinates. A method of using a plurality of scintillation pixels and a small number of photosensors requires a process of obtaining digital signal coordinates requires a plurality of photosensors and a signal processing system. This complicates the signal processing process and raises the cost. To solve this problem, in this study, we developed a method of obtaining digital signal coordinates without performing the process of separating the planar image and region using a plurality of flash pixels and a small number of optical sensors. This is a method of obtaining the position coordinate values of the flash pixels interacting with the gamma ray as a digital signal through a look-up table created through the signals acquired from each flash pixel using the maximum likelihood function. Simulation was performed using DETECT2000, and verification was performed on the proposed method. As a result, accurate digital signal coordinates could be obtained from all the flash pixels, and if this is applied to the existing system, it is considered that faster image acquisition is possible by simplifying the signal processing process.