SPATIAL-RESOLUTION AND NOISE TRADEOFFS IN PINHOLE IMAGING-SYSTEM DESIGN - A DENSITY-ESTIMATION APPROACH

This paper analyzes the tradeoff between spatial resolution and noise for simple pinhole imaging systems with position-sensitive photon-coun ting detectors. We consider image recovery algorithms based on density estimation methods using kernels that are based on apodized inverse f ilters. This approach allows a continuous-object, continuous-data trea tment of the problem. The analysis shows that to minimize the variance of the emission-rate density estimate at a specified reconstructed sp atial resolution, the pinhole size should be directly proportional to that spatial resolution. For a Gaussian pinhole, the variance-minimizi ng full-width half maximum (FWHM) of the pinhole equals the desired ob ject spatial resolution divided by root 2. Simulation results confirm this conclusion empirically. The general approach is a potentially use ful addition to the collection of tools available for imaging system d esign. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.