ABSTRACT
Air-coupled ultrasonic spectroscopy is described, whereby the output from a pulse compression system is used. It is demonstrated that the cross-correlation operation used within a pulse-compression system preserves amplitude and phase information. This approach allows the signal-to-noise ratio and, hence, signal-detection capability to be improved by the cross-correlation, while allowing noncontact spectral information for solid samples to be obtained. Results are presented for chocolate samples, where measurements of interest to the food industry have been obtained.
Subject(s)
Algorithms , Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted/methods , Materials Testing/methods , Spectrum Analysis/methods , Ultrasonography/methods , Air , Image Enhancement/methods , Reproducibility of Results , Sensitivity and Specificity , ViscosityABSTRACT
A new signal processing method, which uses a modified chirp signal for air-coupled ultrasonic imaging, is described. A combination of the elliptical and Tukey window functions has been shown to give a better performance than the Hanning windowing used in most pulse-compression algorithms for air-coupled applications. The elliptical-Tukey chirp signal provides an improvement in both the resolution of images and signal-to-noise ratios. In addition, this type of signal also reduces the level of signal voltages required to drive the source transducer while maintaining the performance of the system. This approach, thus, may have wide interest in all forms of wide bandwidth ultrasonic imaging.
