Bridging NDT’s Digital Divide
Jonathan Steele President PACSESS North America Seattle, WA
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
Non Destructive Testing’s Digital Divide
Bridge: “a way across”
Digital Divide: “Converting from-film-to-digital” Vs
“Converting to-digital-from-film” Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
INSPECTIONS INDUSTRY
NDT - Digital Radiography
q Digital radiography and computed radiography growing in United States and around the globe… q IRONY: Worldwide Industrial film sales growth .
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
BUSINESS CASE: Medical Industry
q Converted from film to digital radiography over
15-20 yrs q MEDICAL Industry crossed the digital bridge…
Result: q No Medical film in North America…
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
Opps…
Medical imaging had a problem…
.
– The “Film Problem”
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
NDTMA 2015 Annual Conference
FROM: Medical Film workflow….
VS
TO: Digital Radiography workflow q Digital radiography focus: acquiring digital image – to -
q Overlooking from film workflow elements…to supporting digital workflow
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
Medical imaging workflow:
FROM prior films comparing TO digital images
q Incompatible comparisons: film – digital
q Lightbox vs Digital file comparisons
q FROM Accessing - Retrieving film
q TO Digital imaging software compatibility
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
SOLUTION: Medical facili2es demanded:
q Film digi2zers in digital radiography proposals
q Film Digitizer’s Critical Role q RESULT: “Film Problem” solved q 40,000+ Medical Grade Film Digitizers
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
Lesson: NonDestructive Testing Concerns:
q Converting from Film to Digital q Industrial Film compatible with CR/DR
Inspection Services:
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
NDT Field services workflow:
q Review/compare from film to CR/DR files
q Limited Inspection time
q Going from digital-workstation-to-lightbox- back & forth
q Hybrid viewing: quality/consistency issues - incompatible luminance and lluminance levels
q Personnel requirements for handling film
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
NonDestructive Testing Industrial Digitizer Cost?
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
q High-quality digitizers and software: $30K
q Business Case: No film digitizer = decreased digital efficiency
- unpaid time handling film - workflow disruption – analog/digital file compatibility issues…..
NDT ACTION: Solve the “Film Problem”
INDUSTRIAL FILM DIGITIZER
q Film digitizing integral to digital radiography - NOT secondary accessory -
q Digitizer: cost-effective solution q Ensures existing films preserved q Digital images archived/organized/retrieved
q DICONDE* S/W digital -compatibility
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
NDT Film Digitizer Bridge KNOWLEDGE:
Failure to address converting FROM film TO digital = NDT failure to achieve benefits of digital radiography
Why?
q Breakdown digital workflow
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015
*DICONDE
q Based on DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications) in Medicine - proven imaging and archiving standard since 1993
q DICONDE [Digital Imaging and Communications for Non-
Destructive Evaluation] - NDT imaging and archiving standard q In 2004, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
established DICONDE as NDT imaging standard
Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015