Method and device for detecting a given material in an object using electromagnetic rays

• US 7,020,241 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2002
• Issued: 03/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Smiths Heimann GmbH
• Original Assignee: Heimann Systems GmbH
• Inventors: Siedenburg, Uwe, Ries, Hermann, Meder, Claus, Ullrich, Stefan, Naumann, Dirk, Beneke, Knut, Nittikowski, Joerg
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Allen C.
• Application Number:
  US10/362,929
• Publication Number:
  US 20030190011A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,284 Days
• Field of Search: 378/8, 378/10, 378/53, 378/54, 378/57, 378/92, 378/146, 378/55, 378/56, 382/131
• US Class Current: 378/57
• 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

A method for the detection of a specific material in an object (1), especially in a piece of luggage, using electromagnetic beams, whereby the intensities of non-absorbed beams from at least three beam planes (5.1–5.2) in corresponding detector arrays (4.1–4.5) are measured and evaluated, using the following steps according to the invention:

1. generating an at least two-dimensional picture of the object (1) from the measured intensity values;

2. selecting one of the spatial regions displayed in the picture as a basis of the value of a material value, which is determined from intensity measurements, for examination;

3. determining at least one spatial-geometric value in the region to the examined from positional data of a two-dimensional picture and from intensity values using a stored value of a specific, absorption-influenced value of a suspected material.

4. determining, in addition, the corresponding spatial-geometric value solely from three-dimensional geometric values, which are determined from measured intensity values; and

5. comparing, directly or indirectly, values of the spatial-geometric values determined in steps 3 and 4, or values derived therefrom, in order to determine if the suspected material is actually present.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a specific material in an object using electromagnetic beams, whereby intensities of non-absorbed beams from at least three beam planes in corresponding detector arrays are measured and evaluated, said method comprising the steps of:

a) generating at least a two-dimensional picture of the object from the measured intensity values;

b) selecting one of the spatial regions displayed in the picture on a basis of the value of a material value, which is determined from intensity measurements, for examination;

c) determining a first spatial-geometric value in the region to be examined from positional data of a two-dimensional picture and from intensity values using a stored value of a material-specific, absorption-influenced value of a suspected material;

d) determining a second spatial-geometric value solely from three-dimensional geometric values, which are determined from measured intensity values; and

e) comparing, directly or indirectly, the first spatial-geometric value with the second spatial-geometric value in order to determine if the suspected material is actually present.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an indirect comparison is executed in such a way that by using both values of the spatial-geometric values of steps c and d, the value of a specific material value is calculated, which subsequently is compared with a stored value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein

in step c, the area of the image of the region to be examined is calculated, and the volume of the material in the region of the area and the absorption thickness of the region is subsequently determined as a spatial-geometric value, whereby the absorption thickness is determined from measured intensity values and the stored value of the specific, absorption-influenced value of a suspected material, and

wherein in step d, the approximate volume of the material of the region is determined from spatial positional data, which are determined from intensity values of at least three detector arrays.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein in step e, the values of the volume or the values of a value calculated with a volume are compared with one another.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein mass values are compared with one another, which were calculated by multiplying the volume values with the density value, which was stored or determined from the stored value.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein in step c, a mass of the material in the region is calculated with the volume of the material and the stored density, and

wherein in step e, for an indirect comparison, the density of the mass determined in step c and the volume determined in step d is calculated and compared with the stored density value.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein for the approximation of the volume in step d, the volume of a polyhedron, either located in the region or encompassing the region, is calculated from positional data, which is derived from intensity values of at least three detector arrays.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein

in step c, an absorption thickness of the region corresponding to a position of the two-dimensional picture, utilizing a stored value of the specific, the absorption-influenced value of a suspected material is determined;

in step d, the corresponding thickness of the region is determined from spatial positional data, which was derived solely from intensity values of at least three detector arrays; and

in step e, the two determined thicknesses, or values derived therefrom, are compared to one another.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the material value in the selection in step b is based on the effective atomic number Z_eff.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored material-specific, absorption-influenced value in step c is density ρ

and/or mass attenuation coefficient μ

/ρ

.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is radiated in at least three separate beam planes, of which at least two are not parallel to one another.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the object is transported through the beam planes for radiation.

13. A device comprising:

a transport device for moving an object through a radiation tunnel;

radiation sources, which are positioned around the transport device, said radiation sources emitting beams in at least three beam planes, each being aligned with a corresponding detector,

wherein at least two of the beam planes are not parallel with one another; and

an evaluator for detecting a specific material in the object by;

a) generating at least a two-dimensional picture of the object from the measured intensity values;

b) selecting one of the spatial regions displayed in the picture on a basis of the value of a material value, which is determined from intensity measurements, for examination;

c) determining a first spatial-geometric value in the region to be examined from positional data of a two-dimensional picture and from intensity values using a stored value of a material-specific, absorption-influenced value of a suspected material;

d) determining a second spatial-geometric value solely from three-dimensional geometric values, which are determined from measured intensity values; and

e) comparing, directly or indirectly, the first spatial-geometric value with the second spatial-geometric value in order to determine if the suspected material is actually present.