Industrial computed tomography (CT) scanning is any computer-aided tomographic process, usually x-ray computed tomography, that (like its medical imaging counterparts) uses irradiation (usually with x-rays) to produce three-dimensional representations of the scanned object both externally and internally. Industrial CT scanning has been used in many areas of industry for internal inspection of components. Some of the key uses for CT scanning have been flaw detection, failure analysis, metrology, assembly analysis and reverse engineering applications. Just as in medical imaging, industrial imaging includes both nontomographic radiography (industrial radiography) and computed tomographic radiography (computed tomography).