High speed, small footprint x-ray tomography inspection systems, devices, and methods

A computed tomography inspection system, comprising:

• a conveyor configured to move an object to be inspected through an inspection zone along a direction of travel;
• one or more multibeam x-ray source arrays operable to provide multiple collimated x-ray beams through the inspection zone along a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of travel;
• one or more x-ray detector arrays configured to detect x-ray beams passing through the inspection zone from the x-ray source array;
• an electronic controller operable to electronically turn on and turn off individual x-ray beams from the x-ray source array according to a preprogrammed pattern;
• a signal processing unit operable to record corresponding x-ray signals detected by the x-ray detector array and to form multiple x-ray projection images of the object;
• and
• a data processor unit operable for processing the multiple x-ray projection images into three-dimensional tomographic images of the object.