Plane Of Interest Research Articles

Development of a digital panoramic X-ray imaging system of adaptive image layers for dental applications

Abstract As a continuation of our digital radiographic sensor R&D, we have developed a prototyped digital panoramic X-ray imaging system for dental applications. The imaging system consists of a slit-collimated X-ray generator with a 0.4 mm focal spot size and a 3.5 mm Al filtration, a linear-array typed CMOS imager with a 48×48 μm2 pixel size and a 128 (in the scan direction)×3072 (in the vertical direction) pixel format, a series of microstep motors for the precise motion control of the imaging system, and the designed sequences for the motion control and pixel readout required to make a specific plane of interest (POI) to be focused. With the several test phantoms we designed, we obtained useful digital panoramic X-ray images by moving the X-ray generator and the CMOS imager along a continuously sliding rotational center. In this study, we demonstrated that the prototype system can be applicable to any shaped POI or multi-POIs simultaneously to be focused, provided that adequate sequences for motion control and pixel readout are designed. We expect that the imaging system will be useful for our ongoing applications of dental panoramic radiography and nondestructive testing.

Digital Panoramic Tomography (DPT) and Its Realization

We have developed a prototyped digital panoramic tomography (DPT) system which mainly consists of a slit-collimated X-ray generator of a 0.4-mm focal spot and a 3.5-mmAl filtration, a linear-array typed CMOS imaging sensor of a 48 × 48 μm2 pixel size and a 128 (in the scan direction) × 3072 (in the vertical direction) pixel format, a series of microstep motors for the precise movement of the imaging system, and the designed motion control and pixel readout sequences required to make a specific plane of interest (POI) to be focused. With the several test phantoms we designed, we, for the first time, succeeded in obtaining useful DPT images by moving the X-ray generator and the CMOS imaging sensor along a continuously sliding rotation center during a continuous X-ray exposure. We demonstrated that the prototyped DPT system can be applicable to any shaped POI to be focused, provided that adequate motion control and pixel readout sequences are designed. We expect the system to be useful for our future imaging applications such as nondestructive testings and dental panoramic radiography.