Project work and experience

Operator software for a conveyor X-ray scanner (dual energy)

The brief. Build the operator-facing software for a conveyor X-ray scanner that performs multi-energy processing and tells materials apart.

What we delivered:

• live network acquisition of data streamed from the line-scan detector system;
• detector calibration (offset and gain), supporting both on-board and off-board modes;
• a processing pipeline covering DRM, sharpening filters, unsharp masking, and material-discriminating colorization;
• rendering through OpenGL, with both single- and dual-monitor layouts;
• calibration routines, collimator configuration, image archiving, and separate operator and administrator roles.

Technologies: C++, Qt, OpenGL, UDP, cross-platform across Windows and Linux.

Material sorting software using X-ray transmission (XRT)

There is a fuller write-up of this capability on the X-ray sorting (XRT) page.

The brief. Classify and sort items moving along a conveyor by their material type automatically, and drive the ejection hardware to act on the result.

What we delivered:

• real-time handling of line-scan detector data even at high belt speeds;
• material discrimination by density and effective atomic number using dual energy;
• hands-off classification driven by configurable rule sets, with no operator input needed;
• a command map for the pneumatic (air-jet) valves that factors in timing delay and geometry;
• integration with the controller that drives the ejection mechanisms.

Applicable to: sorting waste, ore and minerals, scrap and recyclables.

Central controller for a conveyor X-ray scanner

The brief. Design and supply central controllers for a conveyor-style X-ray scanner and fold them into the customer's own software.

What we delivered:

• a hardware design built around a 32-bit microcontroller with on-chip Ethernet;
• control over the conveyor motor, X-ray generators and power via relay outputs, while watching safety sensors and emergency-stop buttons;
• embedded firmware with a guaranteed reaction time to emergency conditions and support for remote firmware updates;
• a cross-platform SDK (Windows and Linux) featuring automatic device discovery and asynchronous event callbacks;
• a complete documentation package along with handover of the source code.

Scale: a serial run of controllers shipped together with firmware and SDK.

Line-scan detector integration

The brief. Deliver dependable acquisition and calibration of line-scan detector data inside a scanning X-ray system.

What we delivered:

• work with the detector SDK and the detector's acquisition protocol across both the command and image channels;
• scan synchronization tied to the encoder trigger and integration time;
• setup of multi-energy modes and two detector lines covering two viewing angles;
• on-board and off-board calibration, with the coefficients stored inside the detector.

Outcome: a dependable real-time data stream, primed for processing and colorization.