Industrial x-ray inspection system with improved image characterization using blind deblurring based on compressed-sensing scheme

• Published in: Instrumentation science & technology 2017-05, Vol.45 (3), p.248-258
• Main Authors: Kim, Kyuseok, Park, Soyoung, Kim, Guna, Cho, Hyosung, Je, Uikyu, Park, Chulkyu, Lim, Hyunwoo, Lee, Hunwoo, Lee, Dongyeon, Park, Yeonok, Woo, Taeho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blind deblurring; compressed-sensing; nondestructive testing; x-ray inspection system
• ISSN: 1073-9149; 1525-6030
• DOI: 10.1080/10739149.2016.1236269

An industrial x-ray inspection system has recently established by our group to examine large and dense objects available in industry. It consists of an industrial x-ray generator having a tube voltage of 450 kV and a focal spot size of 1 mm, a flat-panel detector having a pixel size of 200 µm and a pixel dimension of 2048 × 2048, and a mechanical support for object's installation. For improving the image characteristics of the system, an effective blind deblurring method based on compressed-sensing scheme is reported. Blind deblurring is the image restoration by estimating the original image and the degradation mechanism using partial information on both. Compressed-sensing is a relatively new mathematical theory for solving the inverse problems. Systematic measurements were performed and the image characteristics of the restored images were quantitatively evaluated using several image-quality indicators. The results demonstrate that the deblurring method is effective for industrial x-ray inspection systems.