On-line C-arm intrinsic calibration by means of an accurate method of line detection using the radon transform

Mobile isocentric x-ray C-arm systems are an imaging tool used during a variety of interventional and image guided procedures. Three-dimensional images can be produced from multiple projection images of a patient or object as the C-arm rotates around the isocenter provided the C-arm geometry is known. Due to gravity affects and mechanical instabilities the C-arm source and detector geometry undergo significant non-ideal and possibly non reproducible deformation which requires a process of geometric calibration. This research investigates the use of the projection of the slightly closed x-ray tube collimator edges in the image field of view to provide the online intrinsic calibration of C-arm systems.A method of thick straight edge detection has been developed which outperforms the commonly used Canny filter edge detection technique in both simulation and real data investigations. This edge detection technique has exhibited excellent precision in detection of the edge angles and positions, (phi,s), in the presence of simulated C-arm deformation and image noise: phi{RMS} = +/- 0.0045 degrees and s{RMS} = +/- 1.67 pixels. Following this, the C-arm intrinsic calibration, by means of accurate edge detection, has been evaluated in the framework of 3D image reconstruction.