Microtomography is an X-ray imaging technique similar to the medical CT scanner, and can be used to visualize the internal structures of objects in a non-invasive and non-destructive way. However, microtomography uses synchrotron radiation, an extremely powerful source of X-rays. This allows scans at much higher resolution and quality. Thanks to the phase contrast effect, it can also be used to image soft tissues without the need for contrast agents. Our partners on this project at ESRF have been using two of the microtomography beamlines (ID19 and BM05) for applications in Egyptology, through the investigation of animal mummies. In this application, trained specialists manually segment the volume into textiles, organic tissues, balm resin, ceramics and bones. This process is very time consuming, typically taking several weeks for a small animal mummy. In the near future, thanks to the construction of a new beamline (BM18), the same process is expected to be applied to human mummies, which would take considerably longer. The main objective of our project is to develop and use artificial intelligence techniques to automatically perform this laborious process. Following the principles of “Open Innovation, Open Science, Open to the World”, the developed algorithms, data sets, and results will be made available to the general public. This project has received funding from the ATTRACT project funded by the EC under Grant Agreement 777222.
Duration: 2019-2020
Grant: €100,000
Duration: 2018-2020
Grant: €150,000