Experimental approach for measuring resolution of complementary metal oxide semiconductor imaging systems

Purpose: To demonstrate a method of measuring the modulation transfer function (MTF) of digital imaging systems using the common star pattern test tool. The goal of this research is to develop a technique that brings precise and objective evaluation of spatial resolution to routine quality control in radiography and fluoroscopy. Method and Materials: Images of a 2‐degree star pattern were obtained on a variety of digital radiographic imaging systems, spanning a range of spatial resolution performance levels. One‐dimensional profiles from concentric circles around the center of the star were obtained from each star image. The circular profiles were unwrapped to produce a series of square waves, which were analyzed to produce the square wave response function (SWRF). Droege's method was used to compute the MTF from the SWRF. The MTF determined using the star pattern method was compared to published and quality control measurements of the MTF for several digital mammography and digital radiography systems. In implementing this method, important parameters that must be considered include the radial and angular sampling rates, the method for determining the zero‐frequency normalization and correction for beam nonuniformity. Results: The MTF computed from star pattern profile measurements closely matched the MTF obtained using other methods over the range of spatial frequencies between the Nyquist frequency and 1/3 of the Nyquist frequency. The star pattern MTF, which is a system measurement and includes the effects of detector and geometric unsharpness, was within 6–8% of reference values obtained from the scientific literature for two models digital mammography equipment. Conclusion: Images of a 2‐degree star pattern can produce estimates of the two‐dimensional system MTF. This method may offer a convenient means of assessing the spatial resolution of digital imaging systems for acceptance testing and quality control.

엑스선 의료영상이 디지털 시스템으로 발전함에 따라 의료영상의 평가 방법 또한 디지털 시스템에 맞춰 새롭게 개선되었으며 그 중 MTF(Modulation Transfer Function) 측정법은 Fujita이론에 기초한 에지법으로 ISO에 규정되었다. 에지법의 기초인 Fujita이론은 MTF 측정을 위해 슬릿의 각도를 디지털 검출기의 픽셀 열에 대하여 <TEX>$1^{\circ}{\sim}2^{\circ}$</TEX> 기울여 영상을 획득한 후 LSF를 합성하는 것으로 샘플링 간격은 각도에 따라 크게는 1/54배, 작게는 1/28배 감소하게 된다. 본 연구에서 사용된 장비는 Simens사의 MAMMOMAT Inspiration으로 비정질 셀레늄(amorphous selenium) 기반의 <TEX>$0.085{\times}0.085mm^2$</TEX> 의 픽셀 사이즈를 갖는 검출기를 이용하여 presampling MTF를 측정하였다. 측정 방법은 Fujita의 슬릿법와 동일한 방법인 와이어법를 이용하였으며 측정된 영상에서 얻은 픽셀값을 이용하여 엑셀에서 이산 푸리에 변환을 시행하였다. 실험 결과 Fujita이론 대비 약 3배 이상의 샘플링 간격(sampling interval)의 경우 해상도 평가 지수인 10% MTF에서 약 85% 이하의 정확도를 보였으며 선예도 평가 지수인 50% MTF에서 약 93% 이하의 정확도를 나타내었다. 하지만 샘플링 간격이 Fujita 이론 대비 2배 정도 늘어난 경우는 50%와 10% MTF 모두 96% 이상의 정확도를 가진다는 것을 알 수 있었다. Assessments of medical image was improved in accordance with development of medical imaging systems. One of them is edge method to determining MTF(Modulation Transfer Function) based on the Fujita method. Fujita was reduced sampling interval used slightly angulated slit to the direction of pixel array and composited finely sampled LSF to determine presampling MTF. In this study, we investigate the effect of sampling interval on the MTF under a digital imaging system by changing wire angle. The wire method was equivalent to the slit method except signal appearance. A Simens's MAMMOMAT Inspiration with <TEX>$0.085{\times}0.085mm^2$</TEX> pixel size made by amorphous selenium was used and 96% accuracy on MTF in twice sampling interval compared with Fujita was obtained. However, three times of sampling interval showed 93% accuracy on 50% of MTF and 85% accuracy on 10% of MTF.

Two main spatial frequency and quantitative calculations and measurements am, used to study the imaging system of three industrial digital radiography (IDR) modules for non-destructive testing (NDT), namely complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) flat-panel digital detector with 50 mu m pixel pitch, computed radiography (CR) with phosphor imaging plate with 25 mu m pixel pitch and laser-type film digitiser with 50 mu m pixel pitch. The modulation transfer function (MTF) and noise power spectrum (NPS) measurement and calculations were adapted on order to evaluate the image quality of IDR images. The MTF has been used to characterise the resolution properties of analogue and digital X-ray imaging systems and measure image deterioration due to optical factors, such as diffusion of image forming radiation. The NPS is used in determining noise in images produced and the choices of normalisation of the NPS vary slightly from researcher to researcher, but the underlying methodology is consistent. In order to easily compare these two measurements and calculations, the integral of up to the system Nyquist frequency was used as the final image quality quantitative evaluation. For the MTF measurement and calculation, four regions of interest (ROI) were, defined to portray the randomness in performing real testing. The four ROI are then compared with each other. For the NPS measurement and calculation, ten ROI were defined, scattered and averaged to have overall noise estimation. From the measurements and calculations which were done, the averaged MTF at 20% modulation for the laser-type film digitiser system is 6.55 cycles/mm, CR modulated 4.48 and CMOS modulated 2.83 cycles/mm. For NPS measurement and calculation, the result obtained in decreasing order is laser-type film digitiser, CMOS and CR. The laser-type film digitiser system modulates the best transfer function at 20% but does not have the lowest NPS. The lowest and stable NPS is the CR system but it has the lowest modulating capability at 20%. The study shows that in order to perform NDT by using the evaluated modules, the user must know the true capability, of the system and how, it is designed for specific application and discontinuity detection.

Wavefront coding technique can extend the depth of filed (DOF) of the incoherent imaging system. Several rectangular separable phase masks (such as cubic type, exponential type, logarithmic type, sinusoidal type, rational type, et al) have been proposed and discussed, because they can extend the DOF up to ten times of the DOF of ordinary imaging system. But according to the research on them, researchers have pointed out that the images are damaged by the artifacts, which usually come from the non-linear phase transfer function (PTF) differences between the PTF used in the image restoration filter and the PTF related to real imaging condition. In order to alleviate the image artifacts in imaging systems with wavefront coding, an optimization model based on the PTF was proposed to make the PTF invariance with the defocus. Thereafter, an image restoration filter based on the average PTF in the designed depth of field was introduced along with the PTF-based optimization. The combination of the optimization and the image restoration proposed can alleviate the artifacts, which was confirmed by the imaging simulation of spoke target. The cubic phase mask (CPM) and exponential phase mask (EPM) were discussed as example.

Medical images are acquired for the purpose of gathering information regarding the disease state of a patient. The quality of the image should be a measure of how a specified task may be performed given the resulting image. Image quality is task dependent; one imaging system may provide images that allow better task performance than another system's for one task, but worse for another task. Determining the quality of an imaging system involves specifying the task of interest, the range of objects that will be imaged, and the observer (human or machine reader) who will perform the task. In radiography it has become common to use Fourier measures to describe image quality through a combination of Fourier‐based measures of system resolution and noise. The Line Spread Function, when Fourier transformed, yields the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) as a measure of system resolution. Use of the MTF to describe a system's resolution is appropriate when the imaging system is shift‐invariant, that is, the line spread function is independent of position. Image noise is described in the Fourier domain by the Noise Power Spectrum (NPS). We can use the NPS to describe the noise in an imaging system whenever the noise properties are stationary, meaning that the variance and correlations between fluctuations in different locations are not dependent on their absolute location. These Fourier measures of system resolution and noise are commonly combined to give an overall figure of merit known as the Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE). The DQE describes the signal‐to‐noise transfer characteristics of an imaging system as long as those assumptions of shift‐invariance and noise stationarity are valid. In digital systems the image of an object is affected by the location of the object with respect to the pixel grid. In other words, the detector pixels cause the system to be shift‐variant. In this case the MTF does not describe the resolution properties completely. This is particularly the case for tomographic systems, where the point‐response function is quite position‐dependent. Moreover, in real imaging systems the noise properties will depend on position, most notably because real patients always have structure. So, the Fourier‐domain noise concept of Noise Power Spectrum does not capture all the properties of noise for real imaging systems and tasks. In this talk we will consider a general treatment of the imaging system as a mapping of information from the patient to the data, without the assumptions inherent in Fourier analysis. We will discuss approaches to the characterization of system resolution and noise in terms of position‐dependent parameters. Once such position‐dependent imaging properties of a system are determined, we can use them to calculate measures of image quality that summarize the usefulness of the images for the performance of various visual tasks.

A number of complementary metrics are available to assess the performance of digital X-ray imaging systems. However, the sensitivity of these metrics to changes in the electro-optical imaging chain is poorly understood. Some of the commonly used metrics include Contrast to Noise ratio (CNR), limiting spatial resolution, Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), Noise Power Spectrum (NPS) and the Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE). We evaluated the utility of these metrics in characterizing the imaging plate, imaging system optics and electronic components of computed radiography (CR) systems. We developed practical and easy to use test objects (phantoms) and implemented software to aid in calculating each metric. The results of this research will facilitate the characterization of differences in CR systems using the appropriate metrics.

Digital imaging systems require offset and gain calibration to normalize the behavior of individual pixels. This normalization corrects for imperfections in the system and also external variables that have effects on uniformity. Imaging metrics like Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE) and Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) define how sensitivity and resolution are transferred through the system. Gain calibration can result in a loss of DQE due to the noise associated with its application. The typical technique to minimize this noise is to average several gain calibration procedures so that the introduced noise is minimized. This paper discuses the effects of gain calibration on DQE. It measures DQE as a function of the number of gain calibration procedures averaged and contrasts it with a novel technique that uses a single filtered gain calibration. It demonstrates that noise filter techniques, applied to a single gain calibration, regains the loss in DQE without any degradation in resolution. This paper also compares imaging performance of a system using a filtered gain map against a system that has many gain calibrations averaged. The technique is demonstrated using a Thin-Film-Transistor (TFT)-based large area medical imaging system.

Line-pair resolution phantoms are used to determine the spatial resolution of medical imaging systems. In some cases, these phantoms are used to determine the maximum number of line-pairs per mm that the system can resolve. In other cases, a numerical determination of the modulation transfer function (MTF) is carried out by means of the analysis of the variance of ROIs on the image. In this note, a new procedure is implemented to calculate the presampled MTF of an imaging system. Images of a commercial line-pair phantom are acquired in a flat panel detector. After applying an edge detector and a Radon transform to the image, the direction of the bars in the phantom is calculated. Then, an area of the image that excludes the ends of the bars is determined. Every pixel in this area is used to obtain an oversampled profile on which the MTF is calculated. Every group of line-pairs conforms a periodic wave on this profile. Each of these waves is the output of the system for a square wave input with the same frequency. After extracting a wave, the MTF value for its frequency is calculated as the ratio of its first odd harmonic to the first odd harmonic of the square wave input. The amplitude of this square wave is obtained from two uniform areas on the phantom image. The results obtained are compared to those obtained following the standard edge method, as recommended by the IEC, and show a very good agreement between both methods, in both main directions of the detector and all the dose ranges analyzed. The presented method is shown accurate and can be used to extend the conventional use of line-pair phantoms in conventional radiology.

Correction of axial chromatic aberration improves the contrast transfer in bright-field phase contrast imaging

The presampling modulation transfer function (MTF) of a digital imaging system is commonly determined by measuring the system’s line spread function (LSF) using a narrow slit or differentiating the detector’s edge spread function (ESF) with an edge device. The slit method requires precise fabrication and alignment of a slit as well as a high radiation exposure. The edge method [3] is a complicated image processing procedure, requiring determination of the edge angle, reprojection, sub-binning, smoothing and differentiating the ESF, and spectral estimation. In this paper, a simple method is employed to evaluate the MTF using an edge device. The image processing procedures required by this method involve simply the determination of the over-sampling rate and the Fourier transform of the modified ESF. Differentiation and signal to noise ratio (SNR) improvement are jointly applied in the Fourier domain. The MTFs obtained by this simple method are compared to the theoretical MTF and the previously proposed more complicated edge method. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides a simple, accurate and convenient measurement of the presampling MTF for digital imaging systems.

The effect of various digital parameters, such as the sampling aperture, sampling distance, and display aperture, on the modulation transfer function (MTF) of digital radiographic imaging systems was investigated by means of theoretical simulation studies. The MTFs were also determined experimentally to confirm the relationship used in the simulation studies. The results indicate that the overall MTF of a digital system cannot specify the resolution properties in the same way as can the MTFs of analog systems. The MTF of a digital system may include a "false" response due to aliasing, which could lead to an incorrect interpretation of the resolution properties. The magnitude of aliasing that will occur in a digitized signal depends on the sampling parameters chosen and on the frequency content of the radiologic object being imaged. Thus, the type of object to be detected as well as various digital parameters must be considered in the design and evaluation of digital imaging systems.

A compact charge coupled device (CCD) camera system has been designed and characterized for use in the six inch manipulator (SIM) at the Nova laser facility. The camera system has been designed to directly replace the 35 mm film packages currently used in SIM-based x-ray imaging diagnostics. The unit’s electronic package has been constructed for small size and high thermal conductivity which reduces the overall camera size and improves its performance when operated within the vacuum environment of the Nova target chamber. Measurements of the x-ray imager’s contrast transfer function (CTF) were made under a variety of operating conditions on a static x-ray Manson source using both the CCD and Kodak T-Max 3200 film as recording media. The CTF data were converted to an equivalent modulation transfer function (MTF). The MTF plots show that the microchannel plate has a uniform response within our measurement accuracy along its strips. In a direction normal to the strip, however, the MTF is reduced due to the slant angle of the pores in the MCP. The measurements show that the CCD camera has a lower MTF response than T-MAX film for all spatial frequencies and configurations measured. However, data obtained from the film exhibited reciprocity failure and border effects that are not observed in the CCD data. Measurements indicate that the signal-to-noise ratio for the CCD data is four to six times larger than that obtained with film and higher photon flux levels were recorded. The CCD-based diagnostic offers immediate access to the data, improved dynamic range, and reduced turnaround time, while eliminating the need for film development, digitization, equipment, and personnel.

The line spread function (LSF) is a classical figure of merit used to derive the modulation transfer function (MTF) of an imaging system. However this test cannot be directly applied to cameras based on an infrared focal plane array (IRFPA), as these sampled systems exhibit aliasing effects. ONERA has proposed a new technique called generalized line spread function allowing MTF assessment for sampled imaging systems. A testing of spatial frequency filtering becomes possible until at least twice the Nyquist frequency. The purpose of this paper is to show that this method is well-adapted to IRFPA cameras. In particular, the effects of bad a priori estimation of the characteristics of the camera are discussed. Secondly, we have carried on a laboratory experiment with a widespread infrared imaging system. The purpose is to demonstrate experimentally the advantages of this new method, not only in terms of performances but also in terms of simplicity of implementation and robustness. The infrared imaging system tested is a 512 by 512 Si:Pt IR5120C Mitsubishi camera equipped with a F/1.2 Angenieux lens.

BackgroundThe transmission electron microscope is used to acquire structural information of macromolecular complexes. However, as any other imaging device, it introduces optical aberrations that must be corrected if high-resolution structural information is to be obtained. The set of all aberrations are usually modeled in Fourier space by the so-called Contrast Transfer Function (CTF). Before correcting for the CTF, we must first estimate it from the electron micrographs. This is usually done by estimating a number of parameters specifying a theoretical model of the CTF. This estimation is performed by minimizing some error measure between the theoretical Power Spectrum Density (PSD) and the experimentally observed PSD. The high noise present in the micrographs, the possible local minima of the error function for estimating the CTF parameters, and the cross-talking between CTF parameters may cause errors in the estimated CTF parameters.ResultsIn this paper, we explore the effect of these estimation errors on the theoretical CTF. For the CTF model proposed in [1] we show which are the most sensitive CTF parameters as well as the most sensitive background parameters. Moreover, we provide a methodology to reveal the internal structure of the CTF model (which parameters influence in which parameters) and to estimate the accuracy of each model parameter. Finally, we explore the effect of the variability in the detection of the CTF for CTF phase and amplitude correction.ConclusionWe show that the estimation errors for the CTF detection methodology proposed in [1] does not show a significant deterioration of the CTF correction capabilities of subsequent algorithms. All together, the methodology described in this paper constitutes a powerful tool for the quantitative analysis of CTF models that can be applied to other models different from the one analyzed here.

As a continuation of our digital radiographic sensor R&D, we have developed a digital gamma imaging system based upon the cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photoconductor for the applications of industrial gamma-imaging. The imaging system consists of a commercially-available CMOS pixel array of a 100 × 100 μm2 pixel size and a 5.4 × 151.0 mm2 active area, coupled with a 750-μm-thick CdTe photoconductor, and a collimated selenium (75Se) radioisotope of an about 2.3 × 1012 Bq activity and a physical size of 3.0 mm in diameter. In this study, we, for the first time, succeeded in obtaining useful gamma images of several test phantoms with the 75Se radioisotope from the imaging system and evaluated its imaging performance in terms of the line spread function (LSF), the modulation transfer function (MTF), the noise power spectrum (NPS), and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE). For comparison, we also tested its X-ray imaging performance with a microfocus X-ray tube of an about 5 μm focal spot size at an operation condition of 90 kVp and 100 μA. According to our test results, the designed imaging system seems to be promising for our ongoing application of nondestructive testings, provided that the effective source size of the 75Se radioisotope can be further limited.