Electrical Capacitance Tomography with a Variable Topology

In this paper we present a novel approach for Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) with a variable electrode topology of the sensor front end. The topology of the ECT can be continuously varied while the reconstruction takes place. The unique combination of light weight signal processing chain with a variable dual plate planar sensor front end meets the usability and performance requirements of robotic and mobile applications. The experimental results show the feasibility of this approach achieving reconstruction results with low artefacts even with a low number of electrodes not only in the vicinity of the electrodes but also in the center of the Region of Interest (ROI). Moreover, this sensor topology can be miniaturized which eases the integration, e.g., on a robot's end effector.