Non-iterative imaging method for experimental data inversion in eddy current tomography

In eddy current tomography the conductivity profile of conductive materials is reconstructed through the inversion of eddy current data (ECT). The state of the art of imaging methods in ECT data inversion is represented by iterative methods, the drawbacks of which are their high computational cost and the risk of becoming trapped in false solutions (local minima). In this paper we propose the 'monotonicity imaging method', a fast non-iterative algorithm recently developed by the authors for elliptic problems (such as electrical resistance tomography) and then extended to parabolic problems (such as eddy current tomography). For the first time we experimentally validate the monotonicity imaging method and demonstrate that the inversion can be obtained in real time and without resorting to any direct solver. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.