A DSP Based Multi-Frequency 3D Electrical Impedance Tomography System

This paper describes the design of a multi-frequency Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) system, which provides a flexible mechanism for addressing up to 48 electrodes for imaging conductivity and permittivity distributions. A waveform generator based on a digital signal processor is used to produce sinusoidal waveforms with the ability to select frequencies in the range of 0.1–125 kHz. A software based phase-sensitive demodulation technique is used to extract amplitudes and phases from the raw measurements. Signal averaging and automatic gain control are also implemented in voltage and phase measurements. System performance was validated using a Cardiff-Cole Phantom and a saline filled cylindrical tank. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) using saline tank was greater than 60 dB and the maximum reciprocity error less than 4% for most frequencies. The common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) was nearly 60 dB at 50 kHz. Image reconstruction performance was assessed using data acquired through a range of frequencies. This EIT system offers image reconstruction of both conductivity and permittivity distributions in three dimensions. The imaging results are presented in time difference and frequency difference imaging.