Convolution of Barker and Mutually Orthogonal Golay Complementary Codes for Ultrasonic Testing

Ultrasonic testing (UT) is a vital nondestructive testing (NDT) technique used to evaluate the integrity of materials and structures. However, conventional excitation signals often suffer from significant attenuation in highly attenuative materials, resulting in low signal energy and poor signal interpretation. Coded excitation techniques, such as the Barker code and the complementary Golay code (CGC), have been used to enhance signal energy and signal-to-noise ratio. Yet, Barker codes are limited by short sequence lengths, while CGC requires two transmission events, reducing time efficiency. This paper proposes a novel excitation method: the Barker-convolved mutually orthogonal Golay complementary code (BMOGCC). By convolving the Barker code with the mutually orthogonal Golay complementary code (MOGCC), BMOGCC combines the advantages of both, including flexibility in code length, improved signal amplitude, low sidelobe levels, and enhanced time efficiency. Performance was evaluated using numerical simulations and laboratory experiments, with key indices including the peak sidelobe level (PSL), mainlobe gain (MG), and temporal resolution. The results show that BMOGCC achieves a significantly higher MG than either the Barker code or MOGCC alone while maintaining a low PSL and preserving the temporal resolution. These findings demonstrate that BMOGCC is effective and efficient for coding excitation signals in ultrasonic testing, offering improved signal quality and measurement time efficiency.