Real-time full matrix capture for ultrasonic non-destructive testing with acceleration of post-processing through graphic hardware

Abstract

Full matrix capture allows for the complete ultrasonic time domain signals for each transmit and receive element of a linear array probe to be retrieved. While it is more common to use full matrix capture to post-process data to allow for electronic steering, focusing and imaging after the initial inspection processes, due to the data-acquisition and performance limitations of the focusing algorithms real-time inspection systems are not yet common place.This paper investigates several algorithm optimisation techniques utilising standard in-expensive PC architecture with parallelisation undertaken by the graphic processing unit. This approach is further combined with several other software engineering optimisation techniques including threaded data-capture, the use of look-up tables and half-matrix implementation to produce a real-world inspection scenario for benchmark and performance analysis.Experimental results are presented indicating that high frame rates inclusive of data-acquisition and image render are achievable with 32 active transmit and receive elements. This approach is shown to offer significant performance advantages with low implementation and development costs.