• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.521-537
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• 2000

Ultrasonic imaging is the most widely used modality among modern imaging device for medical diagnosis and the system performance has been improved dramatically since early 90's due to the rapid advances in DSP performance and VLSI technology that made it possible to employ more sophisticated algorithms. This paper describes "main stream" digital signal processing functions along with the associated implementation considerations in modern medical ultrasound imaging systems. Topics covered include signal processing methods for resolution improvement, ultrasound imaging system architectures, roles and necessity of the applications of DSP and VLSI technology in the development of the medical ultrasound imaging systems, and array signal processing techniques for ultrasound focusing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.493-500
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• 2009

An ultrasonic signal processing algorithm was developed for extracting the information of cracks generated around the keyway of a turbine rotor disk. B-scan images were obtained by using keyway specimens and an ultrasonic scan system with x-y position controller. The B-scan images were used as input images for 2-Dimensional signal processing, and the algorithm was constructed with four processing stages of pre-processing, crack candidate region detection, crack region classification and crack information extraction. It is confirmed by experiments that the developed algorithm is effective for the quantitative evaluation of cracks generated around the keyway of turbine rotor disk.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2003

Ultrasonic inspection methods are widely used for detecting flaws in materials. The signal analysis step plays a crucial part in the data interpretation process. A number of signal processing methods have been proposed to classify ultrasonic flaw signals. One of the more popular methods involves the extraction of an appropriate set of features followed by the use of a neural network for the classification of the signals in the feature space. This paper describes an alternative approach which uses the least mean square (LMS) method and expectation maximization (EM) algorithm with the model based deconvolution which is employed for classifying nondestructive evaluation (NDE) signals from steam generator tubes in a nuclear power plant. The signals due to cracks and deposits are not significantly different. These signals must be discriminated to prevent from happening a huge disaster such as contamination of water or explosion. A model based deconvolution has been described to facilitate comparison of classification results. The method uses the space alternating generalized expectation maximization (SAGE) algorithm In conjunction with the Newton-Raphson method which uses the Hessian parameter resulting in fast convergence to estimate the time of flight and the distance between the tube wall and the ultrasonic sensor Results using these schemes for the classification of ultrasonic signals from cracks and deposits within steam generator tubes are presented and showed a reasonable performances.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.5-9
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• 1997

In this paper, when we use the chirp signal as input signal of ultrasonic signal system the technique for determining the bandwidth of the chirp signal that maximizes the amplitude of the compressed ultrasonic echo signal has been studied. In ultrasonic signal processing systems, the signal-to-noise ratio of the echo signal can be too low due to damping and scattering of the ultrasonic wave during transmission. Method of pulse compression using chirp signal is a means to increase the signal-to-noise ratio in ultrasonic pulse-echo systems. Simulation and experimental results showed that the output signal of ultrasonic system was increased by pulse width of chirp signal and the optimum-bandwidth of the chirp signal was 1.15 times larger than the bandwidth of the ultrasonic system.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.290-298
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• 2014

Ultrasonic thickness measurement is a non-destructive method to measure the local thickness of a solid element, based on the time taken for an ultrasound wave to return to the surface. When an element is very thin, it is difficult to measure thickness with the conventional ultrasonic thickness method. This is because the method measures the time delay by using the peak of a pulse, and the pulses overlap. To solve this problem, we propose a method for measuring thickness by using the power cepstrum and the minimum variance cepstrum. Because the cepstrums processing can divides the ultrasound into an impulse train and transfer function, where the period of the impulse train is the traversal time, the thickness can be measured exactly. To verify the proposed method, we performed experiments with steel and, acrylic plates of variable thickness. The conventional method is not able to estimate the thickness, because of the overlapping pulses. However, the cepstrum ultrasonic signal processing that divides a pulse into an impulse and a transfer function can measure the thickness exactly.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.540-544
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• 2012

Like the phase array based ultrasonic system, complicated electronics has been used for real time signal processing in the magnetostrictive long-range ultrasonic testing(LRUT) system. This study shows that the software approach including the phase compensation, noise filtering and waveform transformation takes advantage rather than the previous hardware approach. Furthermore, it is possible for the software approach to be able more flexible and efficient realtime signal processing. These results will contribute to a cost-effective LRUT system and analysis of the inspection data.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.183-186
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• 2011

본 논문에서는 모바일 초음파(mobile ultrasound) 영상신호의 빔포밍 알고리즘에서 요구되는 고성능 및 저전력을 만족시키는 매니코어 프로세서에 대한 디자인 공간 탐색 방법을 소개한다. 매니코어 프로세서의 디자인 공간 탐색을 위해 매니코어의 각 프로세싱 엘리먼트(Processing Element, PE)당 초음파 영상신호 데이터의 수를 변화시키는 실험을 통해 실행시간, 에너지 효율 및 시스템 면적 효율을 측정하고, 측정된 결과를 바탕으로 최적의 매니코어 프로세서 구조를 선택하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.501-510
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• 2000

Recently, advanced signal analysis which is called "time-frequency analysis" has been used widely in nondestructive evaluation applications. Wavelet transform(WT) and Wigner Distribution are the most advanced techniques for processing signals with time-varying spectra. Wavelet analysis method is an attractive technique for evaluation of material characterization nondestructively. Wavelet transform is applied to the time-frequency analysis of ultrasonic echo waveform obtained by an ultrasonic pulse-echo technique. In this study, the feasibility of noise suppression of ultrasonic flaw signal and frequency-dependent ultrasonic group velocity and attenuation coefficient using wavelet analysis of ultrasonic echo waveform have been verified experimentally. The Gabor function is adopted the analyzing wavelet. The wavelet analysis shows that the variations of ultrasonic group velocity and attenuation coefficient due to the change of material characterization can be evaluated at each frequency. Furthermore, to assure the enhancement of detectability and naw sizing performance, both computer simulated results and experimental measurements using wavelet signal processing are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the noise suppression of ultrasonic flaw signal obtained from austenitic stainless steel weld including EDM notch.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2002.02a
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• pp.464-470
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• 2002

본 연구에서는 초음파를 사과의 비파괴 품질판정에 이용하기 위한 기초 연구로서 사과 표면에 입사, 반사되는 초음파 신호를 계측 및 분석하기 위한 시스템을 구축하고 저장기간에 따른 사과의 초음파 특성을 계측하였으며, 그 결론은 다음과 같다. 1. 구성된 비 접촉식 초음파 장치를 이용하여 전압-시간 그래프에서 전압의 진폭(PTP)값을 구하였고 신호처리용 프로그램을 이용하여 획득한 신호를 주파수 영역에서 분석하여 피크주파수, 영역별 에너지 밀도함수 등을 구하였다. 2. 사과의 초음파 특성을 분석한 결과 사과의 저장기간은 초음파 응답신호의 진폭(PTP) 및 제 3영역 에너지 스펙트럼 밀도함수와 높은 상관성이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 3. 초음파를 농산물의 비파괴 품질판정에 적용시 문제가 되고 지는 센서와 시료와의 접촉응력에 의한 응답신호의 변형에 의한 문제를 해결하고자 비 접촉식 센서를 사용하였으며, 실제 농산물에 적용이 가능한 것으로 판단되었다.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.153-157
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• 2008

Recently, electronic devices is produced by multilayer structure, therefore analysis for hidden layers is important nondestructive inspection. This paper presents visibility enhancement methods for the ultrasonic multiple echoes reflected from adhesive layer in the multilayers using digital signal processing. The reflected signals from the multilayers come out interval of the peaks in the power cepstrum. In the experiment, the adhesive layers of settled thickness using epoxy were formed. The reflected signals from the multilayer is detected by pulse-echo method and power cepstrum is processed for enhancement of visibility.