Lumped Element Method Based Conductivity Reconstruction Algorithm for Localization Using Symmetric Discrete Operators on Coarse Meshes

Abstract

The inverse conductivity problem in electrical impedance tomography involves the solving of a nonlinear and under-determined system of equations. This paper presents a new approach, which leads to a quadratic and overdetermined system of equations. The aim of the paper is to establish new research directions in handling of the inverse conductivity problem. The basis of the proposed method is that the material, which can be considered as an isotropic continuum, is modeled as a linear network with concentrated parameters. The weights of the obtained graph represent the properties of the discretized continuum. Further, the application of the developed procedure allows for the dielectric constant to be used in the multi-frequency approach, as a result of which the optimized system of equations always remains overdetermined. Through case studies, the efficacy of the reconstruction method by changing the mesh resolution applied for discretizing is presented and evaluated. The presented results show, that, due to the application of discrete, symmetric mathematical structures, the new approach even at coarse mesh resolution is capable of localizing the inhomogeneities of the material.