California State University San Bernardino
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Masters Thesis Defense

Date Monday February 23th, 2009 Time 10:00am-11:00am
Location JB-391/389

Title Efficient Proton Computed Tomography Image Reconstruction Using General Purpose Graphics Processing Units

Candidate Scott McAllister

Advisor Dr. Keith Schubert

Committee Members Dr. Ernesto Gomez Dr. Richard Botting Dr. Reinhard Schulte

Abstract

Proton Computed Tomography (pCT) is an imaging modality that is based on 
the tracking of individual protons as they traverse an object. These paths
deviate from a straight line due to the effects of multiple Coulomb 
scattering (MCS) and must be tracked using a formalism that models MCS. A 
sparse iterative solver, like the algebraic reconstruction technique (ART),
is used to reconstruct the object using these non-linear paths. Because 
sparse iterative solvers are slow, parallel algorithms, executed 
simultaneously over multiple processing units are required. This thesis 
will investigate the use of general purpose graphics processing units 
(GPGPUs) for execution of these parallel algorithms as well as exploiting 
the structure of the data being processed. From the results, 
recommendations for new research directions will be suggested.