Master's Thesis

Electrical Impedance Tomography

Final Thesis 27.72 MB Appendix 6.36 MB

Author of thesis: Bc. Roman Vaněk

Acad. year: 2025/2026

Supervisor: doc. Ing. Jan Mikulka, Ph.D.

Reviewer: doc. Ing. Petr Drexler, Ph.D.

Abstract:

Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive imaging method to reconstruct an internal conductivity distribution within a material from boundary voltages and phase measurements. The material is feeded via an alternating current source. While existing EIT systems are mostly designed with the focus on single application, there is a lack of general-purpose experimental platforms capable of measuring wide range of material impedances and supporting diverse current injection strategies. This thesis follows on the development of the Modular EIT (MEIT) system, a multi-purpose, low-cost, modular experimental platform originaly proposed in the author's bachelor thesis. The work begins with a study of the existing system state, identifying and correcting design deficiencies across the power-supply, main, and multiplexer modules togather forming the proposed system. The multiplexer module was completely redesigned, not only to address functional errors, but also to introduce GPIO expander with common bus interface solution to enable utilise up to 256 modules within the system. A new development module was designed and assembled to provide a testbed for new circuit topologies. On this module, the complete current generation was implemented and verified: a DAC front-end with DC offset removal and galvanic isolation, a Mirrored Enhanced Howland Current Source (MEHCS) supplying loads up to 10 mA of resistances up to 7 kΩ, and current sensing circuit based on a high-common-mode differential amplifier with isolated output. The voltage measurement chain was also designed, it consists of active electrode differential output, an instrumentation amplifier, and ADC. All circuits were verified utilising KiCad simulation and validated by oscilloscope measurements and Bode plots using a vector network analyser. The required frequency range (DC—100 kHz) was confrimed.

Keywords:

Electrical Impedance Tomography, modular measurement system, active electrodes, Howland current source

Date of defence

10.06.2026

Result of the defence

Defended (thesis was successfully defended)

znamkaAznamka

Grading

A

Process of defence

Státní závěrečná zkouška probíhá v anglickém jazyce. Student prezentuje výsledky a postupy řešení své závěrečné práce. Tajemník čte zkrácený posudek vedoucího a oponenta závěrečné práce. Dr. Král: Jaká část vaší práce byla provedena Vámi? Student odpovídá, popisuje, kterým částem se věnoval. Dr. Urbanec: Navrhl jste řešení na obrázku v rámci práce? Proč ukazujete systém, který byl vyřešen před prováděním Vaší práce? Student odpovídá a souhlasí s komentářem.

Language of thesis

English

Faculty

Department

Study programme

Space Applications (MPA-SAP)

Composition of Committee

doc. Ing. Tomáš Götthans, Ph.D. (předseda)
doc. Ing. Aleš Povalač, Ph.D. (místopředseda)
doc. Ing. Stanislav Vítek, Ph.D. (člen)
Ing. Václav Havlíček (člen)
Ing. Tomáš Urbanec, Ph.D. (člen)
Ing. Jan Král, Ph.D. (člen)

Supervisor’s report
doc. Ing. Jan Mikulka, Ph.D.

Student Roman Vaněk wrote his thesis on the topic of Electrical Impedance Tomography. He fulfilled all aspects of the assignment. After studying the necessary theoretical foundations, he independently designed a concept for a modular system, performed the necessary simulations, and designed and implemented the modules. He designed some modules on his own (active electrodes, control), updated others by correcting errors made by previous designers, and assisted other students in the development of some modules as part of a team collaboration. Overall, I rate student Vaněk’s approach very positively; he approaches his work professionally. I appreciate his research potential and publication activity (EEICT student competition, International Conference on Measurement, International Conference on Applied Electronics). Points proposed by supervisor: 100

Grade proposed by supervisor: A

Reviewer’s report
doc. Ing. Petr Drexler, Ph.D.

The master thesis by Roman Vaněk focuses on the development of an experimental system for research into electrical impedance tomography. The goal of all related work is to design, develop, validate, and begin using a universal measurement system that will enable further research in this field. Since this is a complex system for research purposes, its development must undergo several iterations, or rather upgrades of its individual components. Roman Vaněk has so far authored several key components of the system himself. The goal of the thesis is to make further modifications and improvements, particularly to the system’s hardware solution.
In the introduction, the author provides a brief yet clear description of the EIT technology, using the specified requirements to determine the necessary basic parameters of the measurement hardware. As described in the subsequent section on the thesis’s contribution, he improved several existing system modules. He verified the newly proposed solutions through simulations and subsequently through experimental verification. He also designed, implemented, and verified additional necessary modules that were unsatisfactory in their previous state. The description of this section is detailed and of high quality. It is evident that he has excelled in mastering the challenges of developing mixed-mode signal hardware. In the conclusion, the entire work is evaluated, and further steps in the development of the entire system are proposed, which go beyond the scope of the thesis.
Mr. Vankě has fulfilled the requirements of the assignment. Here, I would recommend that separate documentation for future users be prepared for the individual modules in the future. It would be easier to work with than searching for parameters and functional description in the text of the thesis.
From a formal standpoint, the thesis is excellently written. Unfortunately, there are a number of typographical errors, but their severity does not significantly affect the overall quality of the presentation.
Despite the aforementioned critical remarks, I rate the thesis as excellent and recommend it for defense. Topics for thesis defence:
  1. The thesis mentions that the developed system modules should be interconnected to verify overall functionality or at least partial functionality. To provide a better overall picture, it would be helpful to include photographic documentation of the existing modules, ideally showing them interconnected. Is it possible to include this in the presentation of the thesis results?
  2. The description of the system’s hardware solution indicates that power is to be supplied via USB-C interface, so I assume from an external switched-mode AC/DC power supply. Won’t this cause interference in the measurement circuits?
Points proposed by reviewer: 95

Grade proposed by reviewer: A

Responsibility: Mgr. et Mgr. Hana Odstrčilová