Ultrasound Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Imaging with Transducer Arrays and Adaptive Processing

This paper addresses the challenging problem of ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE) imaging with adaptive transducer arrays. In NDE applications, most materials like concrete, stainless steel and carbon-reinforced composites used extensively in industries and civil engineering exhibit heterogeneous internal structure. When inspected using ultrasound, the signals from defects are significantly corrupted by the echoes form randomly distributed scatterers, even defects that are much larger than these random reflectors are difficult to detect with the conventional delay-and-sum operation. We propose to apply adaptive beamforming to the received data samples to reduce the interference and clutter noise. Beamforming is to manipulate the array beam pattern by appropriately weighting the per-element delayed data samples prior to summing them. The adaptive weights are computed from the statistical analysis of the data samples. This delay-weight-and-sum process can be explained as applying a lateral spatial filter to the signals across the probe aperture. Simulations show that the clutter noise is reduced by more than 30 dB and the lateral resolution is enhanced simultaneously when adaptive beamforming is applied. In experiments inspecting a steel block with side-drilled holes, good quantitative agreement with simulation results is demonstrated

Ультразвуковая система контроля паянных соединений элементов Пельтье к радиаторным батареям

В работе представлен метод укороченной матрицы, содержащей расстояния, пройденные ультразвуком, и алгоритм обработки данных для системы с антенной решеткой с использованием MatLab. Получен срез изображения объекта контроля по описанному алгоритму. Также в работе представлен пример практической реализации алгоритма на ПЛИС с использованием программы Quartus II.The paper presents a method of reducing the matrix that keeps the distance which went ultrasound and an data processing algorithm for the array system using MatLab. Cut of the control object for the phased array containing of 16 sensors is presented. Also The paper presents an example of practical realization of the algorithm on an FPGA using the program Quartus II

Application of ellipse properties when constructing an object image based on data from a multi-element sensor

The article presents a method based on the ellipse phenomenon that makes it possible to reduce the amount of data transmitted from the data receiving and preprocessing unit to a personal computer, as well as the amount of digitized information and the time of its processing. The developed data processing algorithm for a system with a multi-element sensor was tested in MatLab software package. The block diagram and data processing algorithm for the practical implementation of FPGA have been developed. The amount of digitized information has been reduced by more than 10 times

Array signal processing for maximum likelihood direction-of-arrival estimation

Emitter Direction-of-Arrival (DOA) estimation is a fundamental problem in a variety of applications including radar, sonar, and wireless communications. The research has received considerable attention in literature and numerous methods have been proposed. Maximum Likelihood (ML) is a nearly optimal technique producing superior estimates compared to other methods especially in unfavourable conditions, and thus is of significant practical interest. This paper discusses in details the techniques for ML DOA estimation in either white Gaussian noise or unknown noise environment. Their performances are analysed and compared, and evaluated against the theoretical lower bounds

Collaborative signal and information processing for target detection with heterogeneous sensor networks

In this paper, an approach for target detection and acquisition with heterogeneous sensor networks through strategic resource allocation and coordination is presented. Based on sensor management and collaborative signal and information processing, low-capacity low-cost sensors are strategically deployed to guide and cue scarce high performance sensors in the network to improve the data quality, with which the mission is eventually completed more efficiently with lower cost. We focus on the problem of designing such a network system in which issues of resource selection and allocation, system behaviour and capacity, target behaviour and patterns, the environment, and multiple constraints such as the cost must be addressed simultaneously. Simulation results offer significant insight into sensor selection and network operation, and demonstrate the great benefits introduced by guided search in an application of hunting down and capturing hostile vehicles on the battlefield

Sparse Recovery of Strong Reflectors With an Application to Non-Destructive Evaluation

In this paper we show that it is sufficient to recover the locations of K strong reflectors within an insonified medium from three receive elements and 2K+1 samples per element. The proposed approach leverages advances in sampling signals with a finite rate of innovation along each element and rank properties from the Euclidean distance matrix construction across elements. With the proposed approach, it is not necessary to construct an image in order to identify strong reflective sources, which is why much fewer receive elements are needed. However, the assumed transmit scheme still uses a standard linear array in order to excite the entire medium with sufficient energy. The approach is validated with simulated data and a measurement that emulates a scenario in non-destructive evaluation

Диагностика рака молочной железы с применением ультразвуковых многоэлементных решеток

Длительность обработки данных, проблемы построения трехмерного изображения и высокая стоимость современных диагностических систем привели к низкому проценту использования акустических аппаратов при диагностике рака молочной железы. Использование современной технической базы позволит обрабатывать данные в режиме реального времени и безопасно для пациента.The duration of data processing, the problems of constructing a three-dimensional image and the high cost of modern diagnostic systems led to a low percentage of the use of acoustic devices in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Using a modern technical database will allow processing data in real time and safe for the patient