• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2021

The evolution of X-ray computed tomography (CT) has been based on the discovery of X-rays, the inception of the Radon transform, and the development of X-ray digital data acquisition systems and computer technology. Unlike conventional X-ray imaging (general radiography), CT reconstructs cross-sectional anatomical images of the internal structures according to X-ray attenuation coefficients (approximate tissue density) for almost every region in the body. This article reviews the essential physical principles and technical aspects of the CT scanner, including several notable evolutions in CT technology that resulted in the emergence of helical, multidetector, cone beam, portable, dual-energy, and phase-contrast CT, in integrated imaging modalities, such as positron-emission-tomography-CT and single-photon-emission-computed-tomography-CT, and in clinical applications, including image acquisition parameters, CT angiography, image adjustment, versatile image visualizations, volumetric/surface rendering on a computer workstation, radiation treatment planning, and target localization in radiotherapy. The understanding of CT characteristics will provide more effective and accurate patient care in the fields of diagnostics and radiotherapy, and can lead to the improvement of image quality and the optimization of exposure doses.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.768-776
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• 2019

With the deployment of 4-th generation industrial revolution, the computer based manufacturing technologies employing advanced IT technology are much more popular than any other past years. In this research, some novel S/W technologies related to the industrial X-ray CT (computed tomography) for the inspection of the industrial parts are introduced. First, newly constructed industrial X-ray CT is presented in this paper, where some basic principles and functions of the CT are described. Then some research platforms are developed to generate more advanced functionalities of the industrial CT. Especially, the data transform from CT to general S/W such as Matlab is conducted. And based on this techniques, some supplementary S/W platform such as GUI (graphical user interface) of the CT S/W and some 3D voxel based image processing technologies can be developed in this paper. The industrial CT is one of the rare research items and it's values can be much more enhanced when it is used with advanced IT technologies.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.501-504
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• 2003

The purpose of this work is to introduce some fundamental stereological concepts to quantify damage parameters using X-ray CT(Computed Tomography) in the scope of CDM(Continuum Damage Mechanics). X-ray CT is a completely nondestructive technique for visualizing features in the interior of opaque solid objects, and for obtaining digital information on their 3D geometries and properties. Many researchers have introduced lots of damage parameters to model the mechanical behavior of deteriorated materials. Those damage parameters can be represented in many forms such as specific void or crack surfaces, the spacing between cracks, the specific damaged surface area, the specific damaged surface area tensor, the mean solid path among the damaged surfaces and the mean solid path tensor. Despite of many accomplishments in CDM since there is no the systematic experiment, it have limitations in application. In this situation, X-ray computed tomography is highlited by many researchers and applied in a wide range of materials including rock, bone, ceramic, metal, soft tissue and concrete.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.211-217
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• 2010

A micro-focus X-ray computed tomography (CT) was employed to determine quantitative phase analysis of skarn Zn-Pb-Cu ore by nondestructive visualization of the internal mineral distribution of a skarn ore. The micro CT images of the ore were calibrated to remove beam hardening artifacts, and compared with its scanning electron microscope (SEM) images to set the threshold of CT number range covering sulfide ore minerals. The volume ratio of sulfide and gangue minerals was calculated 20.5% and 79.5%, respectively. The quantitative 3D X-ray CT could be applied to analyse the distribution of economic minerals and their recovery.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.514-522
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• 2022

Non-destructive testing (NDT) technology is a widely used inspection method for agricultural products. Compared with the conventional inspection method, there is no extensive sample preparation for NDT technology, and the sample is not damaged. In particular, NDT technology is used to inspect the internal structure of agricultural products infested by pests. The introduction and spread of pests during the import and export process can cause significant damage to the agricultural environment. Until now, pest detection in agricultural products and quarantine processes have been challenging because they used external inspection methods. However, NDT technology is advantageous in these inspection situations. In this pilot study, we investigated the feasibility of X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify pest infestation in agricultural products. Three kinds of artificially pest-infested fruits (mango, tangerine, and chestnut) were non-destructively inspected using X-ray CT and MRI. X-ray CT was able to identify all pest infestations in fruits, while MRI could not detect the pest-infested chestnut. In addition, X-ray CT was superior to the quarantine process than MRI based on the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), image acquisition time, and cost. Therefore, X-ray CT is more appropriate for the pest quarantine process of fruits than MRI.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.95-101
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• 2007

Recently, small-animal imaging technology has been rapidly developed for longitudinal screening of laboratory animals such as mice and rats. One of newly developed imaging modalities for small animals is an x-ray micro-CT (computed tomography). We have developed two types of x-ray micro-CT systems for small animal imaging. Both systems use flat-panel x-ray detectors and micro-focus x-ray sources to obtain high spatial resolution of $10{\mu}m$. In spite of the relatively large field-of-view (FOV) of flat-panel detectors, the spatial resolution in the whole-body imaging of rats should be sacrificed down to the order of $100{\mu}m$ due to the limited number of x-ray detector pixels. Though the spatial resolution of cone-beam CTs can be improved by moving an object toward an x-ray source, the FOV should be reduced and the object size is also limited. To overcome the limitation of the object size and resolution, we introduce zoom-in micro-tomography for high-resolution imaging of a local region-of-interest (ROI) inside a large object. For zoom-in imaging, we use two kinds of projection data in combination, one from a full FOV scan of the whole object and the other from a limited FOV scan of the ROI. Both of our micro-CT systems have zoom-in micro-tomography capability. One of both is a micro-CT system with a fixed gantry mounted with an x-ray source and a detector. An imaged object is laid on a rotating table between a source and a detector. The other micro-CT system has a rotating gantry with a fixed object table, which makes whole scans without rotating an object. In this paper, we report the results of in vivo small animal study using the developed micro-CTs.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.86-96
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• 2021

CT is a diagnostic tool with many clinical applications. The CT voxel intensity is related to the magnitude of X-ray attenuation, which is not unique to a given material. Substances with different chemical compositions can be represented by similar voxel intensities, making the classification of different tissue types challenging. Compared to the conventional single-energy CT, spectral CT is an emerging technology offering superior material differentiation, which is achieved using the energy dependence of X-ray attenuation in any material. A specific form of spectral CT is dual-energy imaging, in which an additional X-ray attenuation measurement is obtained at a second X-ray energy. Dual-energy CT has been implemented in clinical settings with great success. This paper reviews the theoretical basis and practical implementation of spectral/dual-energy CT.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3380-3389
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• 2022

We evaluated the performance of an improved hybrid median filter (IHMF) applied to X-ray computed tomography (CT) images obtained using a high-resolution photon-counting cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector. To study how the proposed approach improves the image quality, we measured the noise levels and the overall CT-image quality. We established a CZT imaging system with a detector length of 5.12 cm and thickness of 0.3 cm and acquired phantom images. To evaluate the efficacy of the proposed filter, we first modeled two conventional median filters. Subsequently, we were able to achieve a normalized noise power spectrum result of ~10^-8 mm², and furthermore, the proposed method improved the contrast-to-noise ratio by a factor of ~1.51 and the coefficient of variation by 1.55 relative to the counterpart values of the no-filter image. In addition, the IHMF exhibited the best performance among the three filters considered as regards the peak signal-to-noise ratio and no-reference-based image-quality evaluation parameters. Thus, our results demonstrate that the IHMF approach provides a superior image performance over conventional median filtering methods when applied to actual CZT X-ray CT images.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.45-50
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• 2010

The objective of this study is to elucidate the feasibility of synchrotron X-ray micro CT as a non-destructive imaging method to visualize the three-dimensional morphological structures of biological and non-biological samples. The experiments were conducted in 7B2 X-ray micro CT beamline in Pohang Accelerate Laboratory (PAL). A rotational 3-axis stage was specially designed for $0^{\circ}-180^{\circ}$ scanning of test samples. Preliminary tests were performed for opaque samples including a mosquito head, a plant seed and gas diffusion layer (GDL) of polymer electrolyte fuel cell to verify the feasibility of the X-ray micro CT. It visualized clearly the internal structure of all the test samples, supporting its usefulness.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.333-342
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• 2017

In this study, the heterogeneity of internal structure of various igneous rocks acquired in Korea was quantified and correlated with the seismic velocity and the point load strength. Three-dimensional X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) was used to obtain information on the internal structure of the rock specimen, and the representative unit length (LR) was calculated by applying a statistical technique to the CT images. We also proposed an estimation equation to predict the mechanical properties of rocks from the relationship between LR, acoustic velocity and point load strength. In the proposed method, it is shown that the characterization of internal structure of rocks could be utilized as an indirect index to account for the mechanical behavior of rocks by substituting physical laboratory testing for non-destructive test.