Membrane potential function as a battery, providing power to operate a variety of "molecular devices" embedded in the membrane. Second, in electrically excitable cells such as neurons and muscle cells, it is used for transmitting signals between different parts of a cell. Signals are generated by opening or closing of ion channels at one point in the membrane, producing a local change in the membrane potential. This change in the electric field can be quickly affected by either adjacent or more distant ion channels in the membrane. Those ion channels can then open or close as a result of the potential change,
Process tomography imaging methods are used in process tomography, e.g. ultrasonic imaging, positron emission tomography (PET), electrical resistance tomography (ERT) and electrical impedance tomography (EIT), electrical capacitance tomography (ECT), magnetic induction tomography (MIT). In all cases external sensors are used to detect signals from boundary of the object, and the three-dimensional material distribution or the velocity field is computed using the measured data. Process tomography is an area of rapid growth both in terms of research and applications. There are number of challenges remaining in this area including data processing an image reconstruction, and application of imaging modalities in a real applications.