An instrumental electrode model for solving EIT forward problems

An instrumental electrode model (IEM) capable of describing the performance of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) systems in the MHz frequency range has been proposed. Compared with the commonly used Complete Electrode Model (CEM), which assumes ideal front-end interfaces, the proposed model considers the effects of non-ideal components in the front-end circuits. This introduces an extra boundary condition in the forward model and offers a more accurate modelling for EIT systems. We have demonstrated its performance using simple geometry structures and compared the results with the CEM and full Maxwell methods. The IEM can provide a significantly more accurate approximation than the CEM in the MHz frequency range, where the full Maxwell methods are favoured over the quasi-static approximation. The improved electrode model will facilitate the future characterization and front-end design of real-world EIT systems. (paper)