• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.756-767
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• 2007

For the combination of phosphor screens having various thicknesses and a photodiode array manufactured by complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process, we report the observation of image-quality degradation under the irradiation of 45-kVp spectrum x rays. The image quality was assessed in terms of dark pixel signal, dynamic range, modulation-transfer function (MTF), noise-power spectrum (NPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE). For the accumulation of the absorbed dose, the radiation-induced increase both in dark signal and noise resulted in the gradual reduction in dynamic range. While the MTF was only slightly affected by the total ionizing dose, the noise power in the case of $Min-R^{TM}$ screen, which is the thinnest one among the considered screens in this study, became larger as the total dose was increased. This is caused by incomplete correction of the dark current fixed-pattern noise. In addition, the increase tendency in NPS was independent of the spatial frequency. For the cascaded model analysis, the additional noise source is from direct absorption of x-ray photons. The change in NPS with respect to the total dose degrades the DQE. However, with carefully updated and applied correction, we can overcome the detrimental effects of increased dark current on NPS and DQE. This study gives an initial motivation that the periodic monitoring of the image-quality degradation is an important issue for the long-term and healthy use of digital x-ray imaging detectors.

• 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
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• v.10
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• pp.2-6
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• 2000

We have developed an extremely sensitive radio frequency amplifier based on the dc superconducting quantum interference device (dc SQUID). Unlike a conventional semiconductor amplifier, a SQUID can be cooled to ultra-low temperatures (100 mK or less) and thus potentially achieve a much lower noise temperature. In a conventional SQUID amplifier, where the integrated input coil is operated as a lumped element, parasitic capacitance between the coil and the SQUID washer limits the frequency up to which a substantial gain can be achieved to a few hundred MHz. This problem can be circumvented by operating the input coil of the SQUID as a microstrip resonator: instead of connecting the input signal open. Such amplifiers have gains of 15 dB or more at frequencies up to 3 GHz. If required, the resonant frequency of the microstrip can be tuned by means of a varactor diode connected across the otherwise open end of the resonator. The noise temperature of microstrip SQUID amplifiers was measured to be between $0.5\;K\;{\pm}\;0.3\;K$ at a frequency of 80 MHz and $1.5\;K\;{\pm}\;1.2\;K$ at 1.7 GHz, when the SQUID was cooled to 4.2 K. An even lower noise temperature can be achieved by cooling the SQUID to about 0.4 K. In this case, a noise temperature of $100\;mK\;{\pm}\;20\;mK$ was achieved at 90 MHz, and of about $120\;{\pm}\;100\;mK$ at 440 MHz.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2000

We have developed an extremely sensitive radio frequency amplifier based on the dc superconducting quantum interference device (dc SQUID). Unlike a conventional semiconductor amplifier, a SQUID can be cooled to ultra-low temperatures (100 mK or less) and thus potentially achieve a much lower noise temperature. In a conventional SQUID amplifier, where the integrated input coil is operated as a lumped element, parasitic capacitance between the coil and the SQUID washer limits the frequency up to which a substantial gain can be achieved to a few hundred MHz. This problem can be circumvented. by operating the input coil of the SQUID as a microstrip resonator: instead of connecting the input signal between the two ends of the coil, it is connected between the SQUID washer and one end of the coil; the other end is left open. Such amplifiers have gains of 15 dB or more at frequencies up to 3 GHz. If required, the resonant frequency of the microstrip can be tuned by means of a varactor diode connected across the otherwise open end of the resonator. The noise temperature of microstrip SQUID amplifiers was measured to be between 0.5 K $\pm$ 0.3 K at a frequency of 80 MHz and 1.5 K $\pm$: 1.2 K at 1.7 GHz, when the SQUID was cooled to 4.2 K. An even lower noise temperature can be achieved by cooling the SQUID to about 0.4 K. In this case, a noise temperature of 100 mK $\pm$ 20 mK was achieved at 90 MHz, and of about 120 $\pm$ 100 mK at 440 MHz.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.10a
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• pp.140-142
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• 2021

Mobile communication technology after 5th generation requires high speed, hyper-connection, and low latency communication. In order to meet technical requirements for secure hyper-connectivity, low-spec IoT devices that are considered the end of IoT services must also be able to provide the same level of security as high-spec servers. For the purpose of performing these security functions, it is required for cryptographic keys to have the necessary degree of stability in cryptographic algorithms. Cryptographic keys are usually generated from cryptographic random number generators. At this time, good noise sources are needed to generate random numbers, and hardware random number generators such as TRNG are used because it is difficult for the low-spec device environment to obtain sufficient noise sources. In this paper we used the chip which is based on quantum characteristics where the decay of radioactive isotopes is unpredictable, and we presented a variety of methods (TRNG) obtaining an entropy source in the form of binary-bit series. In addition, we conducted the NIST SP 800-90B test for the entropy of output values generated by each TRNG to compare the amount of entropy with each method.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2003

We employed a method eliminating a temporally partial principal component (PC) of multichannel-recorded neuromagnetic fields for excluding spatially correlated noises from event-evoked signals. The noises in magnetoencephalography (MEG) are considered to be mainly spontaneous neuromagnetic fields which are spatially correlated. In conventional MEG experiments, the amplitude of the spontaneous neuromagnetic field is much lager than that of the evoked signal and the synchronized characteristics of the correlated rhythmic noise makes it possible for us to extract the correlation noises from the evoked signal by means of the general PC analysis. However, the whole-time PC of the fields still contains a little projection component of the evoked signal and the elimination of the PC results in the distortion of the evoked signal. Especially, the distortion will not be negligible when the amplitude of the evoked signal is relatively large or when the evoked signals have a spatially-asymmetrical distribution which does not cancel out the corresponding elements of the covariance matrix. In the period of prestimulus, there are only the spontaneous fields and we can find the pure noise PC that is not including the evoked signal. Besides that, we propose a method, called the extended temporal decorrelation method (ETDM), to suppress the distortion of the noise PC from remanent evoked signal components. In this study, we applied the Partial Principal component elimination method (PPCE) and ETDM to simulated signals and the auditory evoked signals that had been obtained with our homemade 37-channel magnetometer-based SQUID system. We demonstrate here that PPCE and ETDM reduce the number of epochs required in averaging to about half of that required in conventional averaging.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.98-104
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• 2004

We analyzed a noise-sensitivity profile of a specific SQUID sensor system for the localization of brain activity. The location of a neuromagnetic current source is estimated from the recording of spatially distributed SQUID sensors. According to the specific arrangement of the sensors, each site in the source space has different sensitivity, that is, the difference in the lead field vectors. Conversely, channel noises on each sensor will give a different amount of the estimation error to each of the source sites. e.g., a distant source site from the sensor system has a small lead-field vector in magnitude and low sensitivity. However, when we solve the inverse problem from the recorded sensor data, we use the inverse of the lead-field vector that is rather large, which results in an overestimated noise power on the site. Especially, the spatial sensitivity profile of a gradiometer system measuring tangential fields is much more complex than a radial magnetometer system. This is one of the causes to make the solutions of inverse problems unstable on intervening of the sensor noise. In this study, in order to improve the localization accuracy, we calculated the noise-sensitivity profile of our 40-channel planar SQUID gradiometer system, and applied it as a normalization weight factor to the source localization using synthetic aperture magnetometry.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.451-461
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• 2015

In megavoltage (MV) radiotherapy, delivering the dose to the target volume is important while protecting the surrounding normal tissue. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the modulation transfer function (MTF), the noise power spectrum (NPS), and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) using an edge block in megavoltage X-ray imaging (MVI). We used an edge block, which consists of tungsten with dimensions of 19 (thickness) ${\times}$ 10 (length) ${\times}$ 1 (width) $cm^3$ and measured the pre-sampling MTF at 6 MV energy. Various radiation therapy (RT) devices such as TrueBeam$^{TM}$ (Varian), BEAMVIEW$^{PLUS}$ (Siemens), iViewGT (Elekta) and Clinac$^{(R)}$iX (Varian) were used. As for MTF results, TrueBeam$^{TM}$(Varian) flattening filter free(FFF) showed the highest values of $0.46mm^{-1}$ and $1.40mm^{-1}$ for MTF 0.5 and 0.1. In NPS, iViewGT (Elekta) showed the lowest noise distribution. In DQE, iViewGT (Elekta) showed the best efficiency at a peak DQE and $1mm^{-1}DQE$ of 0.0026 and 0.00014, respectively. This study could be used not only for traditional QA imaging but also for quantitative MTF, NPS, and DQE measurement for development of an electronic portal imaging device (EPID).

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.203-209
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• 2013

Digital Radiography (DR) has improved a quality of resolution based on a wide dynamic range, high detective quantum efficiency (DQE), and modulation transfer function (MTF), compared with film/screen(F/s). Unlike expectation that a low level of radiation can be used in examination, high level of signal to noise ratio(SNR) due to over-exposure caused increase of exposed dose to patients. Also, the auto exposure control (AEC) using Kilovolage(kVp) in F/S can cause over-exposure. Hence, in this study, we proposed a proper method for using DR, in which effect of tubing Kilovolage on device's image, DR MTF measurement with changes of tubing current (mA), and the quantitative evaluation of skull phantom captured images' PSNR were evaluated. Changes of contrast with tubing Kilovolage can be improved by retouching, and MTF changes according to tubing current(1.41~1.39 lp/mm in 50% area, and 3.19~2.8 lp/mm in 10% area) does not influence on resolution of image. As a result, high tubing Kilovoltage, and tubing current will be suitable to use of DR.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.677-682
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• 2015

In this paper, we investigated the effect of light on the performance of the receiver system noise and external noise added from the ever-present influence in general optical system. And calculated the reception sensitivity of the receiver at the time of off-keying transmission - from the optical transmission system in consideration of the case that the photo detector has a quantum yield of less than one-one. Not less than 50 it was confirmed that it is possible to configure the low power system is calculated and compared with the case where less than 300 the receiver sensitivity of the optical system to maintain the standard error probability. However, even if these values were considered, and the preamplifier in the receiver, considering a case of using a low-output light source, so that a heavy burden in the value less than the actual system installation, using the light source having less than the output, as shown in Figure 3, the results that were obtained also may be used.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.205-209
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• 2007

Purpose: To determine the physical properties of a newly developed cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and Methods: We measured and compared the imaging properties for the indirect-type flat panel detector (FPD) of a new CBCT and the single detector array (SDA) of conventional helical CT (CHCT). Results: First, the modulation transfer function (MTF) of the CBCT were superior to those of the CHCT. Second, the noise power spectrum (NPS) of the CBCT were worse than those of the CHCT. Third, detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of the indirect-type CBCT were worse than those of the CHCT at lower spatial frequencies, but were better at higher spatial frequencies. Although the comparison of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was estimated in the limited range of tube current, CNR of CBCT were worse than those of CHCT. Conclusion: This study shows that the indirect-type FPD system may be useful as a CBCT detector because of high resolution.