Transient processes and noise in a tomography system: an analytical case study

This paper presents an analysis and optimization of an ac-based electric capacitance tomography system. The existing system can capture image data up to 250 frames/s. However, even higher acquisition rates, say 2000 frames/s are desirable for some applications. To optimize the system design, a transient process analysis is performed for every analog stage to determine the settling time and an approach is suggested to minimize it. Noise analysis is also performed to ensure that the signal-to-noise ratio of the system does not degrade. In both cases, results are validated by simulation using PSpice and/or by experiment, showing that the settling time of the overall system could be reduced from 4.4 to 1 ms, offering a faster data acquisition rate of 1000 frames/s.