Tetrahedron-based orthogonal simultaneous scan for cone-beam computed tomography

Abstract

In this article, a cone-beam computed tomography scanning mode is designed using four x-ray sources and a spherical sample. The x-ray sources are mounted at the vertices of a regular tetrahedron. On the circumsphere of the tetrahedron, four detection panels are mounted opposite of each vertex. To avoid x-ray interference, the largest half angle of each x-ray cone beam is 27 degrees 22', while the radius of the largest ball fully covered by all the cone beams is 0.460, when the radius of the circumsphere is 1. A proposed scanning scheme consists of two rotations about orthogonal axes, such that, each quarter turn provides sufficient data for theoretically exact and stable reconstruction. This design can be used in biomedical or industrial settings, such as when a sequence of reconstructions of an object is desired.