MicroCT system software updateand implementation of a beamhardening correction method

Sammanfattning: The School of Technology and Health, STH, has been developing a micro-CTscanner for pre-clinical imaging. The scanner consists of an X-ray tube and aflat panel sensor fixated on a gantry rotating around the object to be imaged. Acomputer located on the gantry runs an acquisition software for communicationbetween the devices on the gantry as well as for controlling them. For this thesisthe acquisition software has been significantly improved in terms of functionality,performance, usability and user-adaptivity.Projection images acquired by the microCT are created by measuring theX-ray beam attenuation as a function of spatial location. Using all projectionimages, a 3-dimensional image can be reconstructed giving a map of the attenuationinside the object, thus providing information about its internal structure.A common artifact for CT-scanner images is the cupping arti fact which the attenuation in the middle of an object is underestimated due to beam hardening.For the second part of this thesis, a method for correcting for this artifact hasbeen implemented and tested. The cupping artifact was successfully removedin most cases, although it was shown that for some situation it is not applicable