Orthogonal-rotating tetrahedral scanning for cone-beam CT

In this article, a cone-beam CT scanning mode is designed assuming four x-ray sources and a spherical sample. The x-ray sources are mounted at the vertices of a regular tetrahedron. On the circumsphere of the tetrahedron, four detection panels are mounted opposite to each vertex. To avoid x-ray interference, the largest half angle of each x-ray cone beam is 27 degrees 22', while the radius of the largest ball fully covered by all the cone beams is 0.460, when the radius of the circumsphere is 1. Several scanning schemes are proposed which consist of two rotations about orthogonal axes, such that each quarter turn provides sufficient data for theoretically exact and stable reconstruction. This design can be used in biomedical or industrial settings, such as when a sequence of reconstructions of an object is desired. Similar scanning schemes based on other regular or irregular polyhedra and various rotation speeds are also discussed.