SBIR Phase II: Compact Multi X-ray Source Imaging Modules for Point-Of-Care Medical Screening

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to improve quality and reduce cost for healthcare, increase security of our nation, and improve US manufacturing quality by funding the initial development of a new higher performance, smaller size, and lower cost technology for 3D x-ray or computed tomography (CT) imaging systems. The first impact of these systems will be improved access and reduced healthcare disparities for low-income and rural patients by introducing the first high-performance, compact CT scanners for lung-cancer screening into convenient locations outside the hospital or into mobile vans. This SBIR will enable the development of the new x-ray technology that will enable these next generation CTs for the first time. The same x-ray technology can be repurposed to improve the speed and reduce the cost per scan for other uses such as screening baggage and cargo to protect the security of our nation or to detect defects in manufacturing of key goods which will make America safer and more competitive in manufacturing. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will fund the development of the key x-ray technology required for a new generation of 3D x-ray or computed tomography (CT) systems that are faster, more compact, and lower cost per scan. Current conventional CT systems use mechanical rotation of a single large x-ray source to image an object at multiple angles required to see inside an object’s 3D volume. These mechanical systems are large, bulky, and expensive to maintain. This SBIR will enable a new generation of compact, lightweight CT systems using a distributed x-ray source technology that replaces mechanical rotation with arrays of many individual x-ray sources placed around an object. Each x-ray source is electrically turned on and off in sequence to image an object at different angles required to create a 3D image. The main barriers to the creation of these systems are 1.) the lack of an x-ray source that is high-performance (speed and power), compact, and low-cost, and 2.) a methodology to array these x-ray sources into a system. This proposal will fund and develop a solution for both challenges. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.