Full matrix capture with time-efficient auto-focusing of unknown geometry through dual-layered media

Sutcliffe, Mark; Weston, Miles; Charlton, Peter; Donne, Kelvin E.; Wright, Ben; Cooper, Ian

doi:10.1784/insi.2012.55.6.297

Cited by 30 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…As a consequence, in the presence of a curved interface separating two media with different sound velocities, the lowest time-of-flight path can diverge from a single straight segment [3] . Since the introduction of advanced ultrasonic data acquisition and imaging techniques, such as full matrix capture (FMC) and the total focusing method (TFM) [4] , imaging through a non-planar surface has become a time-intensive task [5] , where it is necessary to calculate the time-of-flight from each transmit/receive element combination to a given pixel in the region of interest through the refractive ULTRASONIC IMAGING boundary. Extensive investigation has been undertaken in the efficient imaging of such data in post-processing, due to the large amount of data for data storage [6][7][8] and in real-time inspection [5] .…”

Section: Ultrasonic Imaging Of Complex Geometriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the introduction of advanced ultrasonic data acquisition and imaging techniques, such as full matrix capture (FMC) and the total focusing method (TFM) [4] , imaging through a non-planar surface has become a time-intensive task [5] , where it is necessary to calculate the time-of-flight from each transmit/receive element combination to a given pixel in the region of interest through the refractive ULTRASONIC IMAGING boundary. Extensive investigation has been undertaken in the efficient imaging of such data in post-processing, due to the large amount of data for data storage [6][7][8] and in real-time inspection [5] . However, the large datasets associated with FMC and the number of calculations required to effectively image ultrasonic data for a complex geometry still limit the scanning speed rates [9] .…”

Section: Ultrasonic Imaging Of Complex Geometriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The figures are worse for phased array FMC; it has typically not yet been used for the robotic inspection of large structures due to the low number of frames per second (FPS) that can currently be achieved. Real-time FMC imaging is currently performed at up to 40 FPS [5] , which would limit the scanning rate to approximately 6.5 m 2 /h. Therefore, although research and technology advancement will speed up FMC and TFM imaging in the future, automated ultrasonic phased array inspection is to date mostly performed through traditional beamforming or the emerging multi-aperture excitation mode [24] .…”

Section: The Need To Increase Speed and Improve Part Inspectabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Correction of B-scan distortion for optimum ultrasonic imaging of backwalls with complex geometries

Davi¹,

Mineo²,

MacLeod³

et al. 2020

insight

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ultrasound undergoes refraction and reflection at interfaces between media of different acoustic refractive indices. The most common ultrasonic method (pulse-echo) monitors the reflected energy to infer the presence of flaws, whereas the lower amplitude of refracted signals is ignored. When the reflector is orientated normally with respect to the ultrasonic beam, the received echo signal shows the maximum amplitude. The pulse-echo method also relies on monitoring the amplitude of the backwall echo to identify or confirm the presence of defects. This works well for parts with constant thickness and with planar backwalls. Unfortunately, parts with complex backwalls are common to many industrial sectors. For example, applications such as aerospace structures often require parts with complex shapes. Assessing such parts reliably is not trivial and can cause severe downtime in the aerospace manufacturing processes or during in-service inspections. This work aims to improve the ultrasonic inspectability of parts with complex backwalls, through sending ultrasonic beams from the frontwall side. Ultrasonic phased array probes and state-of-the-art instrumentation allow ultrasonic energy to be sent into a part at wide ranges of focusing depths and steering angles. This allows for tracking of the backwall profile, thus hitting it normally and maximising the amplitude of the reflected echo at any point. However, this work has shown that a cross-sectional scan resulting from multiple ultrasonic beams, which are sent at variable incidence angles, can present significant geometrical distortion and cannot be of much use for accurate defect visualisation and sizing. This paper introduces a generalised algorithm developed to remove geometric distortions and the effect that variable refraction coefficients have on the transmitted and received amplitudes. The algorithm was validated through CIVA simulations for two example parts with complex backwalls, considering isotropic materials.

show abstract

Section: Ultrasonic Imaging Of Complex Geometriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ultrasonic Imaging Of Complex Geometriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Need To Increase Speed and Improve Part Inspectabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Correction of B-scan distortion for optimum ultrasonic imaging of backwalls with complex geometries

Davi¹,

Mineo²,

MacLeod³

et al. 2020

insight

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The first sub-category of materials-related applications covers ultrasonic imaging, namely those of Sutcliffe et al [60] and Romero-Laorden et al [61]. The second sub-category of materials-related applications was the use of Finite Element methods for the analysis of soft tissues; papers were from Strbac et al [62] and Strbac et al [63].…”

Section: Materials-relatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards extending the SWITCH platform for time-critical, cloud-based CUDA applications: Job scheduling parameters influencing performance

Knight

Štefanič

Cigale

et al. 2019

Future Generation Computer Systems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SWITCH (Software Workbench for Interactive, Time Critical and Highly self-adaptive cloud applications) allows for the development and deployment of real-time applications in the cloud, but it does not yet support instances backed by Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Wanting to explore how SWITCH might support CUDA (a GPU architecture) in the future, we have undertaken a review of time-critical CUDA applications, discovering that run-time requirements (which we call 'wall time') are in many cases regarded as the most important. We have performed experiments to investigate which parameters have the greatest impact on wall time when running multiple Amazon Web Services GPU-backed instances. Although a maximum of 8 single-GPU instances can be launched in a single Amazon Region, launching just 2 instances rather than 1 gives a 42% decrease in wall time. Also, instances are often wasted doing nothing, and there is a moderatelystrong relationship between how problems are distributed across instances and wall time. These findings can be used to enhance the SWITCH provision for specifying Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs); in the future, GPU-backed instances could be supported. These findings can also be used more generally, to optimise the balance between the computational resources needed and the resulting wall time to obtain results.

show abstract

“…The second approach is to introduce an intermediary medium between the array and the component. This can be a perspex wedge [12], a liquidfilled bag [13] or a liquid bath in which the whole inspection setup is immersed [14]- [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plane Wave Imaging Techniques for Immersion Testing of Components With Nonplanar Surfaces

Rachev

Wilcox

Velichko

et al. 2020

IEEE Trans. Ultrason., Ferroelect., Freq. Contr.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plane Wave Imaging (PWI) is an ultrasonic array imaging technique used in non-destructive testing, that has been shown to yield high resolution with few transmissions. Only a few published examples are available of PWI of components with nonplanar surfaces in immersion. In these cases, inspections were performed by adapting the transmission delays in order to produce a plane wave inside the component. This adaptation requires prior knowledge of the component geometry and position relative to the array. The current paper proposes a new implementation, termed PWI Adapted in Post-Processing (PWAPP), which has no such requirement. In PWAPP the array emits a plane wave as in conventional PWI. The captured data is input into two post-processing stages. The first reconstructs the surface of the component, the latter images inside of it by adapting the delays to the distortion of the plane waves upon refraction at the reconstructed surface. Simulation and experimental data are produced from an immersed sample with a concave front surface and artificial defects. These are processed with conventional and surface corrected PWI. Both algorithms involving surface adaptation produced nearly equivalent results from the simulated data, and both outperform the non-adapted one. Experimentally, all defects are imaged with Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of at least 31.8 and 33.5 dB for respectively PWAPP and PWI adapted in transmission, but only 20.5 dB for conventional PWI. In the cases considered, reducing the number of transmissions below the number of array elements shows PWAPP maintains its high SNR performance down to number of firings equivalent to a quarter of the array elements. Finally, experimental data from a more complex surface specimen is processed with PWAPP resulting in detection of all scatterers and producing SNR comparable to that of the Total Focusing Method. Index Terms-ultrasound, non-destructive evaluation, plane wave imaging, immersion testing, signal processing, complex geometry.Rosen K. Rachev was born in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 1993. He received the M.Eng. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K., in 2016. He is currently pursuing the D.Eng. degree in Nondestructive Evaluation in the Ultrasonics and Nondestructive Testing Research Group, University of Bristol. He is working on advanced ultrasonic data processing algorithms for pipeline in-line inspections, and his project is sponsored by Baker Hughes. His research interests include nondestructive evaluation for the oil and gas industry, ultrasonic phased array surface reconstruction, adaptive imaging, and defect characterisation.

show abstract

Full matrix capture with time-efficient auto-focusing of unknown geometry through dual-layered media

Abstract: FMC

Cited by 30 publications

References 12 publications

Correction of B-scan distortion for optimum ultrasonic imaging of backwalls with complex geometries

Correction of B-scan distortion for optimum ultrasonic imaging of backwalls with complex geometries

Towards extending the SWITCH platform for time-critical, cloud-based CUDA applications: Job scheduling parameters influencing performance

Plane Wave Imaging Techniques for Immersion Testing of Components With Nonplanar Surfaces

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About