Contour-based models for 3D binary reconstruction in X-ray tomography

Abstract. We study the reconstruction of a 3D compact homogeneous object lying inside a homogeneous background for computer aided design (CAD) or nondestructive testing (NDT) applications. Such a binary scene describes either a solid object or an homogeneous material in which a fault is sought. The goal in both cases is to reconstruct the shape of the scene from sparse radiographic data. This problem is under-determined and one needs to use all prior information about the scene to find a satisfactory solution. A natural approach is to model the exterior contour of the fault by a deformable geometric template, which we reconstruct directly from the radiographic data. In this communication, we give a synthetic view of these contour-based methods and compare their relative performances and limitations to recover complex faults.