SBIR-STTR Award

Most dig ital radiography equipment currently in the market target applications that use 10 to 120 keV x-rays consistent with the needs of medical imaging. Advanced digital methods have yet to be developed for the higher x-ray energies required to examine metal engineering objects. There is, in particular, a demand for innovative radiographic solutions for the crucial task of inspecting a wide variety of Army munitions. In response to the present solicitation topic, we propose to develop a modular, fully abuttable CZT detector array with spatial resolution of at least 0.25 mm. Additional requirements include spectral sensitivity with at least five selectable energy thresholds and the ability to work at the high X-ray energies and flux rates encountered in industrial radiography. Specifically, the solicitation calls for an energy resolution of 7% at 120 keV, 3 mm detector thickness for sufficient detection at 400 keV, and a count rate capability of 6 million photons/second per square millimeter. We will study the feasibility of the proposed solution and create preliminary designs for the critical sensor and electronics components during Phase I. A prototype of the proposed detector array will be developed in Phase II and deployed/commercialized in Phase III.

Keywords:
Munitions Inspection, X-Ray Imaging, Non-Destructive Inspection, Computed Tomography, Multi-Energy Photon Counting, Solid-State Pixel Detector Array, Modular Detector System,

Most digital radiography equipment currently in the market target applications that use 10 to 120 keV x-rays consistent with the needs of medical imaging. Advanced digital methods have yet to be developed for the higher x-ray energies required to examine metal engineering objects. There is, in particular, a demand for innovative radiographic solutions for the crucial task of inspecting a wide variety of Army munitions. In response to the present solicitation topic, we propose to develop an abuttable modular CZT detector array with spatial resolution of at least 0.25 mm. Additional requirements include spectral sensitivity with at least five selectable energy thresholds and the ability to work at the high X-ray energies and flux rates encountered in industrial radiography. Specifically, the solicitation calls for an energy resolution of 7% at 120 keV, 3 mm detector thickness for sufficient detection at 400 keV, and a count rate capability of 6 million photons/second per square millimeter. We have successfully studied the feasibility of the proposed solution and created preliminary designs for the critical sensor and electronics components during Phase I. We propose to develop a prototype of the proposed detector array during Phase II and commercialize and market it in Phase III.

Keywords:
Munitions inspection, X-ray imaging, Non-destructive inspection, Computed tomography, Multi-energy photon counting, Solid-state pixel detector array