Projects and experience

Conveyor X-ray scanner operator software (dual energy)

Task. Develop operator software for a conveyor X-ray scanner with multi-energy processing and material discrimination.

What was done:

• real-time reception of data from the Detection Technology detector system over the network;
• detector calibration (offset/gain), on-board and off-board modes;
• processing chain: DRM, sharpening filters, unsharp mask, colorization with material discrimination;
• visualization on OpenGL with single- and dual-monitor support;
• calibration modes, collimator settings, image archiving, separation of operator and administrator privileges.

Technologies: C++, Qt, OpenGL, UDP, cross-platform Windows/Linux.

X-ray material sorting software (XRT)

This service is described in detail on the X-ray sorting (XRT) page.

Task. Automatic classification and sorting of objects on a conveyor by material type, together with control of the actuating mechanisms.

What was done:

• real-time processing of line-scan detector data at high belt speed;
• material discrimination by density and effective atomic number (dual energy);
• automatic classification without operator involvement, based on configurable rules;
• generation of a command map for the pneumatic (air-jet) valves, accounting for delay and geometry;
• integration with the actuating-mechanism controller.

Applicable to: sorting of waste, ore and minerals, scrap and recyclables.

Central controller for a conveyor X-ray scanner

Task. Develop and supply central controllers for a conveyor-type X-ray scanner and integrate them into the customer's software.

What was done:

• hardware platform on a 32-bit microcontroller with integrated Ethernet;
• control of the conveyor motor, X-ray generators and power (relay outputs), monitoring of safety sensors and emergency-stop buttons;
• embedded software with a guaranteed response time to emergency events and remote firmware updates;
• a cross-platform SDK (Windows/Linux) with automatic device discovery and asynchronous event notifications;
• a full documentation set and source-code handover.

Scale: serial delivery of a batch of controllers together with firmware and SDK.

Detection Technology line-scan detector integration

Task. Ensure stable reception and calibration of line-scan detector data in a scanning X-ray system.

What was done:

• working with the X-LIB SDK and the X-GCU protocol (command channel and image channel);
• scan synchronization by encoder trigger and integration time;
• configuration of multi-energy modes and two detector lines for two viewing angles;
• on-board / off-board calibration, with coefficients stored in the detector.

Result: a reliable real-time data stream, ready for processing and colorization.