title: Sinusoidal modulation analysis for optical system MTF measurements.
abstract: The modulation transfer function (MTF) is a commonly used metric for defining the spatial resolution characteristics of imaging systems. While the MTF is defined in terms of how an imaging system demodulates the amplitude of a sinusoidal input, this approach has not been in general use to measure MTFs in the medical imaging community because producing sinusoidal x-ray patterns is technically difficult. However, for optical systems such as charge coupled devices (CCD), which are rapidly becoming a part of many medical digital imaging systems, the direct measurement of modulation at discrete spatial frequencies using a sinusoidal test pattern is practical. A commercially available optical test pattern containing spatial frequencies ranging from 0.375 cycles/mm to 80 cycles/mm was sued to determine the MRF of a CCD-based optical system. These results were compared with the angulated slit method of Fujita [H. Fujita, D. Tsia, T. Itoh, K. Doi, J. Morishita, K. Ueda, and A. Ohtsuka, "A simple method for determining the modulation transfer function in digital radiography," IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging 11, 34-39 (1992)]. The use of a semiautomated profiled iterated reconstruction technique (PIRT) is introduced, where the shift factor between successive pixel rows (due to angulation) is optimized iteratively by least-squares error analysis rather than by hand measurement of the slit angle. PIRT was used to find the slit angle for the Fujita technique and to find the sine-pattern angle for the sine-pattern technique. Computer simulation of PIRT for the case of the slit image (a line spread function) demonstrated that it produced a more accurate angle determination than "hand" measurement, and there is a significant difference between the errors in the two techniques (Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, p < 0.001). The sine-pattern method and the Fujita slit method produced comparable MTF curves for the CCD camera evaluated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California Davis, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Boone
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Seibert
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D013679:Technology, Radiologic