Detecting contraband by employing interactive multiprobe tomography

An inspection system for detecting a specific material of interest in items of baggage or packages, comprising:

• a multi-view X-ray inspection probe constructed to employ X-ray radiation transmitted through or scattered from an examined item to identify a suspicious region inside said examined item;
• said multi-view X-ray inspection probe constructed to identify said suspicious region using several examination angles of said transmitted or scattered X-ray radiation, and also constructed to obtain spatial information of said suspicious region and to determine a geometry for subsequent examination;
• an interface system constructed and arranged to receive from said X-ray inspection probe data providing said spatial information and said geometry;
• a material sensitive probe connected to and receiving from said interface system said spatial information and said geometry;
• said material sensitive probe constructed to acquire material specific information about said suspicious region by employing said geometry;
• and
• a computer constructed to process said material specific information to identify presence of said specific material in said suspicious region.

An X-ray inspection method of detecting a specific material of interest in items of baggage or packages, comprising:

• employing X-ray radiation transmitted through or scattered from an examined item to obtain multi-view spatial information about the examined item;
• identifying from said spatial information a suspicious region inside said examined item, said identifying step being performed by employing several examination angles of said transmitted or scattered X-ray radiation;
• determining a geometry for subsequent examination;
• employing a directional, material sensitive probe using said geometry to acquire material specific information about said suspicious region;
• and
• identifying, based on computer-processing, presence of said specific material in said suspicious region.

An X-ray inspection method of detecting a specific material of interest in items of baggage or packages, comprising:

• employing X-ray radiation transmitted through or scattered from a examined item to obtain multi-view spatial information about the examined item;
• identifying from said spatial information a suspicious region inside said examined item, said identifying step being performed by employing several examination angles of said transmitted or scattered X-ray radiation;
• determining a geometry for subsequent examination;
• employing a material sensitive probe using said geometry to acquire material specific information about said suspicious region;
• and
• identifying, based on computer-processing, presence of said specific material in said suspicious region.