Detection of overlapping ultrasonic echoes with deep neural networks

Alon Shpigler; Etai Mor; Aharon Bar-Hillel

doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2021.106598

Detection of overlapping ultrasonic echoes with deep neural networks

Ultrasonics. 2022 Feb:119:106598. doi: 10.1016/j.ultras.2021.106598. Epub 2021 Oct 9.

Authors

Alon Shpigler¹, Etai Mor², Aharon Bar-Hillel³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel. Electronic address: alonshp@post.bgu.ac.il.
² Department of Non Destructive Testing, Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne 81800, Israel.
³ Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel.

PMID: 34673321
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2021.106598

Abstract

Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo techniques have a significant role in monitoring the integrity of layered structures and adhesive joints along their service life. However, when acoustically measuring thin layers, the resulting echoes from two successive interfaces overlap in time, limiting the resolution that can be resolved using conventional pulse-echo techniques. Deep convolutional networks have arisen as a promising framework, providing state-of-the-art performance for various signal processing tasks. In this paper, we explore the applicability of deep networks for detection of overlapping ultrasonic echoes. The network is shown to outperform traditional algorithms in simulations for a significant range of echo overlaps, echo pattern variance and noise levels. In addition, experiments on two physical phantoms are conducted, demonstrating superiority of the network over traditional methods for layer thickness estimation.

Keywords: Deep learning; Detection; Inverse problems; Layer thickness estimation; Non destructive testing; Overlapping echoes separation; Ultrasound.