Frank Freeman
Smyrna High School
Computer programming 

Dr. Edward Donnelly and Dr. Price  - CT Lab 

Our overall goal for the lab was to be able to create an edge from a phantom, an object with known imaging characteristics. When we find the straight edge on the phantom in our x-ray image, we would add another phantom to the platform and image again.  The goal was to cover the edge up that we just produced.  We would then proceed to recreate the edge using a computer program.  The idea is that if a tumor was blocked by a bone, organ, or any other item inside your body, we would be able to recreate it from the edge we took inside the body at the troubled site.  

The goal of my research project was to design a platform that we could attach to the electric motor that was inside the Faxitron x-ray machine.  It was difficult to find a product that would allow the x-rays to pass through and not hinder the phantom that we were taking images of.  We tried many different materials but decided to use plexi-glass due to its ability to provide a straight line and allow the phantom to show up on the images we shot.  The platform was 4 ½ inches long, ½ inches tall, 1 inch in width, and had a “basketball goal looking” back that attached to the motor through a hole we drilled in the center. The platform would turn 1 degree cycles from a negative 10 to a positive 10 range.  We took a series of 22 shots. We put the pictures into a stack that the computer would compile. We would then run a computer program called “Tomosynthesis,” that would take these shots and recreate the edge effect that Brian, my RET lab partner, would chart in his part of the research project. We were also able to turn the machine manually if we needed to shoot a random degree of angle shot.  

 I will introduce my research to my class by using a satellite dish with a motor attached to it to so it can move using a black box device we will create using C++ as our programming language platform. We will first learn the ins and outs of a satellite system from components to installation.  We will then go through the electric motor and find out how it operates. We will create a black box that will operate the dish from inside the home.  We will program this box using C++ computer language and allow the consumer to rotate the dish to get the desired reception during weather related conditions.