ADAPTIVE SCANNING IN AN IMAGING SYSTEM

• US 20130003929A1
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: L3 Security & Detection Systems, Inc. (Leidos Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: L-3 Communications Security & Detection Systems, Inc. (Leidos Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: McNabb, Ronald Steven Jr., Gillett, Nicholas Danvers Penrose
• Granted Patent: US 9,031,196 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 378/62
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/483 involving scattered radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/04 and forming images of the material
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/20083 by using a combination of at least two measurements at least one being a transmission measurement and one a scatter measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 7/005 calibration techniques stabilization of spectrometer G01T1/40
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 5/22 Active interrogation, i.e. by irradiating objects or goods using external radiation sources, e.g. using gamma rays or cosmic rays

Abstract

An imaging system exposes an object within a region to a beam of penetrating radiation. The beam of penetrating radiation is sensed on a side opposite the region from a source of the beam. An attenuation of the beam caused by passing the beam through the object is determined, the attenuation is compared to a threshold attenuation. If the attenuation exceeds the threshold attenuation, a parameter of the imaging system is adjusted based on the determined attenuation.

Claims

1. An imaging system for adaptively scanning a region with a beam of radiation, the imaging system comprising:

a source system configured to;

produce a beam of penetrating radiation, and

scan an object included in a region with the beam of penetrating radiation;

a sensor configured to;

sense radiation from the beam of penetrating radiation that passes through the object, and

produce a representation of the sensed radiation;

a scattered radiation detector configured to;

sense scattered radiation from the region, and

produce a representation of the scattered radiation; and

a controller coupled to the source system, the sensor, and the scattered radiation detector, the controller configured to;

receive the representation of the sensed radiation;

determine, from the representation of the sensed radiation, an amount of attenuation of the beam of penetrating radiation caused by the region, and

in response to a determination that the amount of attenuation of the beam exceeds a threshold, adjust a parameter of the imaging system based on the amount of attenuation.

2. The imaging system of claim 1, wherein the parameter of the imaging system is a parameter of the sensor.

3. The imaging system of claim 1,

wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and

wherein the controller is further configured to:

receive the representation of the scattered radiation,

determine an amount of scattered radiation from the representation of the scattered radiation, and

in response to a determination that the amount of scattered radiation exceeds a second threshold, cause the source system to reduce an intensity of the beam of penetrating radiation.

4. The imaging system of claim 1,

wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and

wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to a determination that the amount of attenuation of the beam exceeds a second threshold, adjust a parameter of the beam of penetrating radiation.

5. The imaging system of claim 2, wherein the parameter of the sensor is a gain of one or more detectors of the sensor.

6. The imaging system of claim 2, wherein the parameter of the sensor is an amount of filtering of the sensed radiation.

7. The imaging system of claim 2, wherein the parameter of the sensor is a collimation of the sensed radiation.

8. The imaging system of claim 2, wherein the parameter of the sensor is a position of one or more detectors of the sensor.

9. The imaging system of claim 1, wherein the beam of penetrating radiation is a pulsed beam of x-ray radiation.

10. The imaging system of claim 1, wherein the parameter of the imaging system is an intensity of the beam of penetrating radiation.

11. The imaging system of claim 1, wherein the beam of penetrating radiation is a pulsed beam of penetrating radiation, and wherein the parameter of the imaging system is a frequency of the pulsed beam of penetrating radiation.

12. A method for adaptively scanning a region with a beam of radiation, the method comprising:

producing a beam of penetrating radiation;

scanning an object included in a region with the beam of penetrating radiation;

sensing radiation from the beam of penetrating radiation that passes through the object;

producing a representation of the sensed radiation;

sensing scattered radiation from the region;

producing a representation of the scattered radiation;

receiving the representation of the sensed radiation;

determining, from the representation of the sensed radiation, an amount of attenuation of the beam of penetrating radiation caused by the region; and

in response to determining that the amount of attenuation of the beam exceeds a threshold, adjusting a parameter of the sensor based on the amount of attenuation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the parameter of the imaging system is a parameter of the sensor.

14. The method of claim 12,

wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and

wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the representation of the scattered radiation,

determining an amount of scattered radiation from the representation of the scattered radiation, and

in response to determining that the amount of scattered radiation exceeds a second threshold, causing the source system to reduce an intensity of the beam of penetrating radiation.

15. The method of claim 12,

wherein the threshold is a first threshold, and

wherein the method further comprises, in response to determining that the amount of attenuation of the beam exceeds a second threshold, adjusting a parameter of the beam of penetrating radiation.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the parameter of the sensor is a gain of one or more detectors of the sensor.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the parameter of the sensor is an amount of filtering of the sensed radiation.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the parameter of the sensor is a collimation of the sensed radiation.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the parameter of the sensor is a position of one or more detectors of the sensor.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the beam of penetrating radiation is a pulsed beam of x-ray radiation.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the parameter of the imaging system is an intensity of the beam of penetrating radiation.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the beam of penetrating radiation is a pulsed beam of penetrating radiation, and wherein the parameter of the imaging system is a frequency of the pulsed beam of penetrating radiation.