Side scatter tomography system
First Claim
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1. A tomography system for analyzing a material concealed within an enveloping surface, the system comprising:
- a. a first source of penetrating radiation for emitting a beam along a beam axis disposed with an orientation with respect to the material and a second beam of penetrating radiation counterpropagating to the first beam;
b. at least one array of segmented detectors disposed along a detector axis substantially parallel to the beam axis for detecting scattered radiation and producing signals corresponding at least to the scattered radiation; and
c. a scanner arrangement for varying the orientation of the beam axis with respect to the material.
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Abstract
An x-ray tomography system measures x-rays side-scattered by material concealed within an enveloping surface. One or more x-ray beams are incident on the enveloping surface and scattered onto collimated detectors disposed in arrays parallel to the incident x-ray beams. By varying the relative orientation of the enveloping surface with respect to the x-ray beams and measuring the x-rays side-scattered by the material concealed within the enveloping surface, the shape, density, position and composition of the contents of the enveloping surface may be mapped.
252 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A tomography system for analyzing a material concealed within an enveloping surface, the system comprising:
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a. a first source of penetrating radiation for emitting a beam along a beam axis disposed with an orientation with respect to the material and a second beam of penetrating radiation counterpropagating to the first beam; b. at least one array of segmented detectors disposed along a detector axis substantially parallel to the beam axis for detecting scattered radiation and producing signals corresponding at least to the scattered radiation; and c. a scanner arrangement for varying the orientation of the beam axis with respect to the material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method for analyzing material concealed within an enveloping surface, the method comprising:
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a. illuminating the enveloping surface with penetrating radiation; b. measuring a flux of penetrating radiation side-scattered into a detector by a plurality of voxels of the concealed material; and c. creating a three-dimensional map of the flux of penetrating radiation scattered by the plurality of voxels of the concealed material. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 23)
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11. A method for analyzing material having edges, the material concealed within an enveloping surface, the method comprising:
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a. illuminating the enveloping surface with penetrating radiation propagating substantially along a beam axis; b. measuring a profile of penetrating radiation side-scattered by the concealed material to a single side of the concealed material; and c. locating the edges of the material on the basis of the profile of penetrating radiation side-scattered by the concealed material to the single side of the concealed material. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification