Line Pairs Theoretical and Real

Posted on Thursday 28 July 2005

Be careful when choosing a digital radiography sensor. Sensor resolution is an important factor. Resolution is usually expressed in line pairs per millimeter or lp/mm. The bigger the number the better the resolution. That seems simple enough, however the problem develops when vendors use theoretical numbers when marketing products instead of actual resolution.

Theoretical resolution is determined by the number of pixels on the sensor. More pixels equals more data equals more resolution. Based on this some vendors say they have a resolution of greater than 22 lp/mm. That’s the theory the actual performance is sometimes only 10 to 12 lp/mm, not nearly so good. The reason the actual is so much less than the theoretical is that other factors affect the final resolution including the scintillator, the optical fiber or lack of, the internal software or firmware and the display software itself.

Higher resolution sensors are better and do provide more diagnostic data. However what is real and what is hyped are sometimes quite different. Beware the salesman he knows not of that which he speaks.

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