Real-time quasi-3D tomographic reconstruction

Developments in acquisition technology and a growing need for time-resolved experiments pose great computational challenges in tomography. In addition, access to reconstructions in real time is a highly demanded feature but has so far been out of reach. We show that by exploiting the mathematical properties of filtered backprojection-type methods, having access to real-time reconstructions of arbitrarily oriented slices becomes feasible. Furthermore, we present RECAST3D, software for visualization and on-demand reconstruction of slices. A user of RECAST3D can interactively shift and rotate slices in a GUI, while the software updates the slice in real time. For certain use cases, the possibility to study arbitrarily oriented slices in real time directly from the measured data provides sufficient visual and quantitative insight. Two such applications are discussed in this article

Automated FDK-filter selection for cone-beam CT in research environments

Users of X-ray (micro-)CT in research environments often study many different types of objects, with many different research questions. For each new scan, the settings of the scan (number of angles, dose, cone angle) are chosen by the user, often based on how much time is available, the dose sensitivity of the sample, and geometrical characteristics of the particular CT-scanner that is used. The FDK algorithm is the most common reconstruction method used for circular cone-beam data. Its filter is typically chosen based on characteristics of the object, the scan parameters, and task-specific metrics. This imposes a problem for case-by-case research use, as selecting an optimal filter requires manual and subjective user choices as well as considerable expertise. In this article we present a computationally efficient and automated method to compute an FDK-filter for a given measured projection dataset that is optimal with respect to an objectively defined quality criterion that is based on the difference between the measured projection data and the computed projections of the reconstructed volume. We show that for a variety of objects, scan settings (number of angle

RECAST3D

Full-stack implementation of a real-time tomographic reconstruction and visualization pipeline