Volumetric imaging from a multisegment straight-line trajectory and a practical reconstruction algorithm

A new imaging configuration whose trajectory is a multisegment straight line is investigated, and a practical reconstruction algorithm is proposed. It is a natural extension of an imaging configuration with a straight-line trajectory. These kinds of scanning systems may be useful in industry and security inspections. As is known, projection data from a single straight-line trajectory are incomplete and their reconstruction suffers from a limited-angle problem. A multisegment straight-line trajectory can be used to compensate for this deficiency. To reconstruct images, a practical reconstruction algorithm is derived. It is of the Feldkamp-Davis-Kress (FDK) type, and is efficient and straightforward. Like the FDK algorithm, our reconstruction is exact in the midplane and can be exact everywhere if the density of the scanned object is independent of the direction z, though the integral of the reconstructed image along z is no longer preserved. Numerical simulations validate our method. (c) 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.