X-RIS (for ''X-Ray Imaging Solutions'') is a Belgian company based in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

and active in the field of

digital radiography Digital radiography is a form of radiography that uses x-ray–sensitive plates to directly capture data during the patient examination, immediately transferring it to a computer system without the use of an intermediate cassette. Advantages incl ...

non-destructive testing Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), n ...

and in

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercion). Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems, or any other entity or ...

. Founded in 2010, the company won the Belgium Deloitte Technology Fast 50 in 2015 and again in 2017. It has supplied x-ray solutions to

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

Safran Safran S.A. () is a French Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace, defence industry, defence and computer security, security corporation headquartered in Paris. It designs, develops and manufactures both commercial and military airc ...

TOTAL Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...

, the

TÜV TÜVs (; short for , ) are internationally active, independent service companies from Germany and Austria that test, inspect and certify technical systems, facilities and objects of all kinds in order to minimize hazards and prevent damages. T ...

. The company also supplied x-ray material to the

FBI Academy The FBI Academy is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's law enforcement training and research center near the town of Quantico in Prince William County, Virginia. The academy occupies 547 acres (221 ha) on the US Marine Corps Base Quantico. It ...

at Quantico and to the training center of Huntsville,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Company built its reputation on the

user-friendliness Usability can be described as the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which a softw ...

of its software.Els Jonckheere,
Waalse X-RIS innoveert met röntgentechnologie
', ''Engineeringnet.be'', 25 mai 2016. In 2017, it launched the development of Automatic Defect Recognitions tools (ADR) in collaboration with several Walloon universities and companies » and in 2020 the projet AeroCT to use tomography (CT) in the aeronautical parts inspection.

History

Development

X-RIS is a

start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend ...

that was founded in 2010 at Liège.
La start-up liégeoise X-RIS fournit du matériel au FBI
',

Trends A fad, trend, or craze is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation, or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short time period. Fads are objects or behaviors that ...

, 12 February 2015. The company is specialised in the delivery of digital X-ray devices in NDT and in security.Renée Cordes,
X-ray vision. Ans-based start-up X-RIS provides digital radiography solutions for industry and security
'', Wallonia and Brussels Magazine, summer 2015, pp.8-9. The company designs and manufactures portable

X-ray generator An X-ray machine is a device that uses X-rays for a variety of applications including medicine, X-ray fluorescence, electronic assembly inspection, and measurement of material thickness in manufacturing operations. In medical applications, X-ra ...

flat panel detector Flat-panel detectors are a class of solid-state x-ray digital radiography devices similar in principle to the image sensors used in digital photography and video. They are used in both projectional radiography and as an alternative to x-ray ima ...

s and stationary x-ray systems. It is active in the field of foundries and shipyards, in the

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...

(

, Turbomeca,

RAAF The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

SABCA SABCA () is a Belgian aerospace company. Its main sectors of activity are civil aviation, space and defence. SABCA was established during 1920. Presently, it is owned by the Belgian group Orizio, itself owned by the Société Fédérale de Par ...

SONACA The Sonaca Group, short for Societe Nationale de Construction Aerospatiale ("National Aerospace Construction Company") is a Belgian aerospace company. The company has subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Romania, and ...

)Isabelle Lemaire,
X-RIS rayonne à l'export et séduit le FBI
',

La Libre Belgique ''La Libre Belgique'' (; ), currently sold under the name ''La Libre'', is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Together with ''Le Soir'', it is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in both Brussels and Wallonia. ''La Libre'' was ...

, 9 October 2015. and in the

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...

in which it supplies

. In security the applications are

demining Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By cont ...

( EOD and IED),

forensics Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

and

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

.Isabelle Lemaire, ''X-RIS, chef de rayons-X'',

, 2 March 2015, p.10. In 2011, the company developed a customised X-ray scanner for the

Royal Museum for Central Africa The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) (; ; ), communicating under the name AfricaMuseum since 2018, is an ethnography and natural history museum situated in Tervuren in Flemish Brabant, Belgium, just outside Brussels. It was originally b ...

of Belgium. The system was dedicated to the study of zoological specimens of the Institute, some more than 70 years old. In using two flat panels, the system can X-ray small specimen from 1 to 3 cm with a resolution of 48 μm up to snakes 1 m long. End 2014, X-RIS wins a contract with the

.Éric Dagonnier,
Des caméras liégeoises au service de déminage du FBI
',

RTBF The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public broadcasting, public service broadcaster for the French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart i ...

, 12 February 2015.Élodie Christophe,
Ils ont décroché un contrat avec le FBI !
', L'avenir, 14 February 2015. According to journalist Eric Dagonnier, the system distinguishes itself by its « determining speed » that « realises the analysis in less than 20 seconds ». The contract was renewed in 2015 but this time for the Alabama training center.

Awards

In November 2015, the company wins the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 challenge rewarding the 50 technological enterprises with the highest growing rate in Belgium. X-RIS also comes first in the category ''IT & Digital Solutions'' for its innovation and performances. It wins once again in 2017 in the category hardware.
Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50
', echo.be, 3 January 2018.

Products and technologies

Digital X-ray can generate images on the spot for immediate analysis, for inspection and security duties including bomb detection and disposal, as a tool for VIP security and protection, searches for drug and

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

smuggling, customs offices,

and applications in

Nondestructive testing Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), n ...

(NDT) such as pipe inspections in refineries and the

petrochemical industry file:Jampilen Petrochemical Co. 02.jpg, 300px, Jampilen Petrochemical co., Asaluyeh, Iran The petrochemical industry is concerned with the production and trade of petrochemicals. A major part is constituted by the plastics industry, plastics (poly ...

composite material A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a ...

testing in the

aerospace industry Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

as well as inspection of welding in shipyards and art and archeological artifacts. The following products have been designed and are manufactured and supplied by X-RIS:

X-Ray generators

* GemX is a battery-powered,

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided transm ...

controlled, portable constant potential X-ray monobloc. It can operate up to 200 kV. The oil

insulation Insulation may refer to: Thermal * Thermal insulation, use of materials to reduce rates of heat transfer ** List of insulation materials ** Building insulation, thermal insulation added to buildings for comfort and energy efficiency *** Insulated ...

offers a duty cycle of 2 hours of continuous X-ray per day. The small focal spot of 0.7 x 0.8 mm (EN 12543) improves image quality. In combination with a CR or a DR, GemX can be used for the inspection of steel up to 40 mm thick in compliance with NDT standards.

Flat panel detectors

* Dereo UP (ultra-portable) are

Direct Radiography Flat-panel detectors are a class of solid-state x-ray digital radiography devices similar in principle to the image sensors used in digital photography and video. They are used in both projectional radiography and as an alternative to x-ray imag ...

(DR)

flat panel detectors Flat-panel detectors are a class of solid state (electronics), solid-state x-ray digital radiography devices similar in principle to the image sensors used in digital photography and video. They are used in both projectional radiography and as an ...

. They provide a digital image of the objects that are radiographed. Dereo UP have a wide active area of 40 cm x 40 cm or 25 x 30 cm and a real time inspection modality to work in continuous mode as a movie camera. Their rugged conception and the fact that they doesn't require any synchronisation make them very flexible to use on the field. Their pixel of 200 μm and 140 μm offer a good compromise between sensitivity,

signal-to-noise ratio Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to noise power, often expressed in deci ...

(SNR) and resolution. They are controlled with Maestro NDT software. Fixed versions and high energy versions have been developed for castings applications and to be used in combination with gamma sources or

linear accelerator A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear ...

s. * Dereo HR (high resolution) are ultra-small panels with pixels of 48 and 96 μm. The

CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss ", , ) is a type of MOSFET, metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication, fabrication process that uses complementary an ...

reading head and the electronic board have been separated in two modules. This offers an important compactness to the reading head. Two edges around the detective area have a width of only 3 mm of dead area. This design permits to use the panel in area with difficult access. Reading heads are

interchangeable Interchangeability can refer to: *Interchangeable parts, the ability to select components for assembly at random and fit them together within proper tolerances *Interchangeability (computer science) In computer science, an interchangeability algor ...

and the end-user can use the most appropriate one in function of circumstances for an optimized cost. The detector is

IP65 The IP code or International Protection code indicates how well a device is protected against water and dust. It is defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) under the international standard IEC 60529 which classifies ...

. The electronic module is battery-powered and can also control some X-ray generators wireless. Dereo HR is class-B

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

17636-2 compliant from 1.5 to 12 mm thickness of standard steel alloys.Description of DeReO HR on www.xris.eu
.

External links

Official website
* RTBF
X-RIS décroche un contrat avec le FBI
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122022823/http://www.rtbf.be/video/detail_xris-decroche-un-contrat-avec-le-fbi?id=1993141 , date=2015-11-22 , February 13, 2015 (video) * CanalZ - Le Vif

November 20, 2015 (video)

References

Defence companies of Belgium Electronics companies of Belgium Electronics companies established in 2010 Companies based in Liège Belgian companies established in 2010