Faster tomographic fan-beam back-projection using Cartesian axes pre-projection

The convolution back-projection algorithm is the most common method for reconstructing images from complete sets of fan-beam projections. For each pixel and for every projection, the interception point on the detector array must be determined and a weighted value from the appropriate point on the filtered back projection added. Thus the number of operations required is of order n2p, where n is the number of points per projection, and p the number of projections. This can mean a considerable computation time, even with modern, fast computer workstations. The complexity of each pixel operation (weighting and geometric computations) is reduced if the projection is first pre-projected onto one or other of the Cartesian axes. This has been demonstrated to reduce the computational time by a factor of 2, with no loss of accuracy, when compared with a highly optimised implementation of the conventional fan-beam back-projection algorithm.