Design and analysis of a hybrid X-ray transmission and diffraction system

Aviation security, mail inspection, medical diagnostics and many other industries all face the same challenge: to accurately identify the presence of a target material concealed within a cluttered surrounding environment. X-ray systems that combine transmission and diffraction measurements promise excellent detection performance with low false alarm rates; however, conventional approaches to combining these measurements typically under-utilize the available information and result in higher overall system resource costs. Here, we consider a fully integrated approach to hybrid X-ray transmission and diffraction systems and discuss simulation- and experimental-based investigations of the design and performance (both imaging and detection) of such systems. Based on this analysis, we describe a hybrid system capable of scanning boxes and/or luggage and report its ability to distinguish materials of interest to aviation security and pharmaceutical inspection.

Duke Scholars

Author Michael E. Gehm Pierre R. Lamond Department of Electrical and Computer Engin ...