X-RAY DIFFRACTION IMAGING SYSTEM WITH SIGNAL AGGREGATION ACROSS VOXELS CONTAINING OBJECTS AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME

A method of performing a security inspection of a container including a plurality of objects includes irradiating the container with polychromatic x-rays. The method also includes reconstructing a 4-D voxelized representation defining a momentum transfer spectrum and generating a 3-D image by determining a single value at each voxel as a function of the momentum transfer spectrum. The method further includes segmenting the voxels into segments of contiguous voxels. Each segment includes a plurality of contiguous voxels that at least partially map onto at least one object. The method also includes computing an aggregated momentum transfer spectrum over at least a portion of the plurality of contiguous voxels. The method further includes classifying the aggregated momentum transfer spectrum as one of threat and non-threat and distinguishing the at least one object as one of a threat segment and a non-threat segment based on the aggregated momentum transfer spectrum.