• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권9호
• /
• pp.3380-3389
• /
• 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.

• 한국방사선학회논문지
• /
• 제14권4호
• /
• pp.477-486
• /
• 2020

본 연구는 디지털 단층영상합성장치에서 재구성 필터, X-선원 이동궤적 및 이동간격이 화질에 미치는 영향을 평가하고 임상적 검증을 수행하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 필터링후역투영법 재구성 시 Ramp, Shepp-Logan, Cosine, Hamming, Hann 및 Blackman 필터를 사용하였고, X-선원 이동궤적의 변화를 위해 1 × 36, 2 × 18, 3 × 12, 4 × 9 및 6 × 6 배열 형태의 이동궤적을 모사하였다. X-선원 이동간격에 따른 영향을 평가하기 위해 X-선원간 거리를 5, 10, 20, 30 및 40 mm로 변화시켰다. 재구성 영상의 깊이분해능, 공간분해능 및 잡음을 평가하기 위해 인공물확산함수, 반치폭 및 신호대잡음비를 측정하였다. 연구결과 Ramp 및 Blackman 필터를 사용하였을 때 각각 공간분해능 및 잡음 특성이 최대화 되었으며, X-선원 이동궤적의 형태가 1 × 36일 때 깊이분해능과 잡음 특성이 가장 우수하였다. 또한 X-선원 이동간격이 증가함에 따라 깊이분해능 및 잡음 특성은 향상되었고, 공간분해능은 저하되었다. 따라서 디지털 단층영상합성장치를 통한 3차원 영상획득 시 재구성 필터, X-선원 이동궤적 및 이동간격이 화질에 미치는 영향은 각기 다르며, 진단 목적에 부합하는 조건 설정이 필요하다.

• 한국방사선학회논문지
• /
• 제4권4호
• /
• pp.11-16
• /
• 2010

본 논문은 공진형 인버터로 구성된 X-ray 고전압 발생기와 고주파 고전압 변압기의 운영 시스템을 제안하였다. X선 발생장치는 무소음화와 소형화하였으며, 50[kHz]이상의 구동 주파수로 동작하게 하였고, 일반전원을 사용할 때 발생한 전력으로 인한 노이즈, 조사조건의 저하문제 등의 문제점을 해소하였다. 또한, X선관 전압 제어기와 관전류 제어기 및 고주파 고전압 변압기의 필라멘트 가열용 변압기를 고주파용으로 설계, 제작함으로써 X선 장치의 효율적 운영이 되도록 하였다.

• 비파괴검사학회지
• /
• 제20권6호
• /
• pp.545-554
• /
• 2000

충격에 의해 복합 재료 내에 발생하는 층간 박리를 정량적으로 평가하기 위한 비파괴 방법중에서 Compton X-ray 역산란 기술은 초음파에 비해 비접촉식이며 박리 층간의 상호간섭이 없어 복합재료 판면의 박리 층의 위치와 크기를 검사하는데 효과적인 방법으로 사용되어 왔다. 그러나 X-ray역산란 기술에 있어서 복합재료의 박리 층과 같은 미세한 결함의 측정을 위해 측정 정도를 높이면 역산란 양의 감소로 인해 신호 대 잡음 비(SNR)가 급격히 감소하여 결함검출 가능성이 크게 저하된다. 본 논문에서는 복합재료의 특성을 고려한 X-ray 역산란 모델을 기초로 적응필터를 사용하여 결함신호를 비선형 감쇄, 빔 경화(X-ray hardening), 비균질 특성과 같은 잡음 신호로부터 분리, 추출하는 방법을 제시하였다. 이렇게 분리된 결함신호로부터 정량적인 결함(박리)의 위치와 크기를 수학적 산란 모델과의 비교를 통해 최소 자승법을 이용하여 결정하였다.

• 천문학논총
• /
• 제7권1호
• /
• pp.63-69
• /
• 1992

We have systematically investigated the X-ray spectra of normal galaxies, by using the Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) data in the Einstein data base. We employed the X-ray color-color plot as well as the standard model fitting method which requires higher signal to noise ratio. We discuss X-ray emission mechanisms in terms of their spectral properties and the signature of cooling flows which are most likely present in X-ray bright early type galaxies. On the average, fits to absorbed thermal spectra show that the X-ray emission temperature of spirals is higher than that of ellipticals. This is consistent with our understanding that accreting binaries are a major X-ray source in spirals, while extended gaseous halos are present in ellipticals. The emission temperature becomes lower with increasing X-ray to optical luminosity ratio in E and S0 galaxies. This result is what we would expect if the emission of X-ray faint early type galaxies consists of a large evolved stellar component, while the gaseous emission becomes dominant in X-ray brighter galaxies. We also find a cool, self-absorbed core in some early type galaxies, which directly indicates the presence of cooling flows in such galaxies.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
• /
• 제18권3호
• /
• pp.319-331
• /
• 2022

The capability to examine an X-ray image is so far a challenging task. In this work, we suggest a practical and novel algorithm based on image fusion to inspect the issues such as background noise, blurriness, or sharpness, which curbs the quality of dual-energy X-ray images. The current technology exercised for the examination of bags and baggage is "X-ray"; however, the results of the incumbent technology used show blurred and low contrast level images. This paper aims to improve the quality of X-ray images for a clearer vision of illegitimate or volatile substances. A dataset of 40 images was taken for the experiment, but for clarity, the results of only 13 images have been shown. The results were evaluated using MSE and PSNR metrics, where the average PSNR value of the proposed system compared to single X-ray images was increased by 19.3%, and the MSE value decreased by 17.3%. The results show that the proposed framework will help discern threats and the entire scanning process.

• 한국정보통신학회논문지
• /
• 제21권1호
• /
• pp.137-143
• /
• 2017

x선 영상은 각종 의료 검진 분야와 보안검사에 널리 이용되고 있다. 하지만 대부분의 x선 영상은 잡음을 포함하고 있으며 이러한 잡음은 x선 영상분석에 방해가 되기 때문에 x선 영상의 잡음을 제거할 필요가 있다. 본 논문은 화소값 가중치와 화소 거리 가중치를 이용하여 x선 영상의 잡음을 제거하는 방법을 제안한다. 제안하는 알고리즘은 먼저 양방향 필터를 이용하여 x선 영상의 노이즈를 1차적으로 제거하고 원본 x선 영상의 경계 영역을 추정한다. 그 후 현재 화소가 경계 영역에 속한다면 해당화소를 포함하는 $3{\times}3$ 영역의 화소들에 대한 원본화소와 노이즈제거 화소를 이용하여 가중치를 구하고 경계 화소값 결정을 위한 비용계산을 수행한다. 그 후 가장 작은 경계 화소값 결정 비용을 가지는 화소 값을 결과영상의 화소값으로 정한다. 제안하는 알고리즘은 PSNR 및 주관적 화질 비교에서 우수한 성능을 보였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제56권6호
• /
• pp.2057-2062
• /
• 2024

Among photon counting detector (PCD)-based technologies, the K-edge subtraction (KES) method has a very high material decomposition efficiency. Yet, since the increase in noise in the X-ray image to which the KES method is applied is inevitable, research on image quality improvement is essential. Here, we modeled a block-matching and 3D filtering (BM3D) algorithm and applied it to PCD-based X-ray images with the improved KES (IKES) method. For PCD modeling, Monte Carlo simulation was used, and a phantom composed of iodine substances with different concentrations was designed. The IKES method was modeled by adding a log term to KES, and the X-ray image used for subtraction was obtained by applying the 3.0 keV range based on the K-edge region of iodine. As a result, the IKES image using the BM3D algorithm showed the lowest normalized noise power spectrum value. In addition, we confirmed that the contrast-to-noise ratio and no-reference-based evaluation results when the BM3D algorithm was applied to the IKES image were improved by 29.36 % and 20.56 %, respectively, compared to the noisy image. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the IKES imaging technique using a PCD-based detector and the BM3D algorithm fusion technique were very efficient for X-ray imaging.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제11권4호
• /
• pp.1035-1041
• /
• 2016

Internal cracks in products are invisible and can lead to fatal crashes or damage. Since X-rays can penetrate materials and be attenuated according to the material’s thickness and density, they have rapidly become the accepted technology for non-destructive inspection of internal cracks. This paper presents a robust crack filter based on local gray level variation and multiscale analysis for automatic detection of cracks in X-ray images. The proposed filter takes advantage of the image gray level and its local variations to detect cracks in the X-ray image. To overcome the problems of image noise and the non-uniform intensity of the X-ray image, a new method of estimating the local gray level variation is proposed in this paper. In order to detect various sizes of crack, this paper proposes using different neighboring distances to construct an image pyramid for multiscale analysis. By use of local gray level variation and multiscale analysis, the proposed crack filter is able to detect cracks of various sizes in X-ray images while contending with the problems of noise and non-uniform intensity. Experimental results show that the proposed crack filter outperforms the Gaussian model based crack filter and the LBP model based method in terms of detection accuracy, false detection ratio and processing speed.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• 제46권4호
• /
• pp.160-169
• /
• 2021

Background: Dual-energy X-ray images (DEI) can distinguish or improve materials of interest in a two-dimensional radiographic image, by combining two images obtained from separate low and high energies. The concepts of DEI performance describing the performance of double-exposure DEI systems in the Fourier domain been previously introduced, however, the performance of double-exposure DEI itself in terms of various parameters, has not been reported. Materials and Methods: To investigate the DEI performance, signal-difference-to-noise ratio, modulation transfer function, noise power spectrum, and noise equivalent quanta were used. Low- and high-energy were 60 and 130 kVp with 0.01-0.09 mGy, respectively. The energy-separation filter material and its thicknesses were tin (Sn) and 0.0-1.0 mm, respectively. Noise-reduction (NR) filtering used the Gaussian-filter NR, median-filter NR, and anti-correlated NR. Results and Discussion: DEI performance was affected by Sn-filter thickness, weighting factor, and dose allocation. All NR filtering successfully reduced noise, when compared with the dual-energy (DE) images without any NR filtering. Conclusion: The results indicated the significance of investigating, and evaluating suitable DEI performance, for DE images in chest radiography applications. Additionally, all the NR filtering methods were effective at reducing noise in the resultant DE images.