A new beamforming method and hardware architecture for real time two way dynamic depth focusing

Area of Science:

• Non-destructive testing
• Ultrasonic imaging
• Phased array systems

Background:

• Traditional Total Focusing Method (TFM) and Phased Array (PA) imaging have limitations in multi-medium environments.
• Refraction at interfaces complicates time-of-flight (TOF) calculations for TFM.
• PA offers Dynamic Depth Focusing (DDF) in reception only, not emission.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel real-time Dynamic Depth Full Focusing (DDFF) method for ultrasonic imaging.
• To address the complexities of multi-medium propagation and refraction in non-destructive evaluation (NDE).
• To develop a method combining TFM and PA concepts for enhanced imaging.

Main Methods:

• Proposed Total Focusing Phased Array (TFPA) method utilizing omnidirectional emissions for synthetic aperture.
• Beamforming along scan lines, similar to PA, to simplify delay calculations.
• Implementation of a Virtual Array (VA) to eliminate refraction effects, treating multi-medium as homogeneous.

Main Results:

• TFPA achieves real-time DDFF in emission and reception.
• TFPA images show comparable quality to TFM but with improved depth of field and resolution over PA.
• TFPA significantly reduces computational burden for TOF calculations compared to TFM.

Conclusions:

• TFPA offers an efficient and effective solution for ultrasonic imaging in NDE applications with one or two media.
• The method simplifies delay calculations and hardware implementation.
• TFPA provides superior imaging performance and real-time focusing capabilities.