Preconditioned Landweber iteration algorithm for electrical capacitance tomography

Abstract

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) has been used to obtain the cross-section images of processes with different dielectric materials inside. Image reconstruction with ECT is to retrieve the permittivity distribution of materials inside the sensor from the capacitance measurements. Algorithms for ECT image reconstruction should be both precise and fast in order to satisfy the requirements of real-time monitoring of the dynamic behavior of processes. Several algorithms have been developed for ECT image reconstruction. The Landweber iteration is the most precise one. However, the low convergence rate of the Landweber iteration limits its application for on-line imaging. This paper introduces an iterative algorithm based on the Landweber method with preconditioning for ECT image reconstruction. A preconditioner, which is equivalent to a filter, is applied to the Landweber iteration. The convergence of this algorithm is analyzed. Its performance is evaluated by using simulated and experimental data corresponding to certain typical permittivity distributions. Preliminary numerical and experimental results show that this algorithm converges more rapidly than the Landweber iteration without preconditioning. Therefore, image reconstruction iteration can be accelerated, which makes on-line quantitative image reconstruction possible.