A new guided wave imaging application for fast, low-cost ultrasound-based cargo scanning system is proposed. The ultimate goal is the detection of high-atomic-number, shielding containers used to diminish the radiological signature of nuclear threats. This ultrasonic technology has the potential to complement currently deployed X-ray-based radiographic systems, thus enhancing the probability of detecting nuclear threats. An array of ultrasonic transceivers can be attached to the metallic structure of the cargo to create a guided Lamb wave. Guided medium thickness and composition variation creates reflections whose placement can be revealed by means of an imaging algorithm. The knowledge of the reflection position provides information about the shielding metallic container location inside the cargo. Moreover, due to the low coupling between metallic and nonmetallic surfaces, only the footprint of metallic containers shows up in the imaging results, thus avoiding false positives from plastic or wooden assets. As imaging capabilities are degraded if working with dispersive Lamb wave modes, the operating frequency is tuned to provide a tradeoff between low dispersion and real-time image resolution. Reflected waves in the guided domain bounds may limit the performance of imaging methods for guided media. This contribution proposes a solution based on real-time Fourier domain analysis, where plane wave components can be filtered out, thus removing nondesired contributions from bounds. Several realistic examples, scaled due to limited calculation capabilities of the available computational resources, are presented in this work, showing the feasibility of the proposed method.
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June 2016
Research-Article
On the Use of Ultrasound-Based Technology for Cargo Inspection
Yuri Álvarez-López,
Yuri Álvarez-López
Área de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones,
Universidad de Oviedo,
Edificio Polivalente,
Mod. 8, 8.1.02. Campus Universitario de Gijón,
Gijón 33203, Spain
e-mail: yalopez.tsc@gmail.com
Universidad de Oviedo,
Edificio Polivalente,
Mod. 8, 8.1.02. Campus Universitario de Gijón,
Gijón 33203, Spain
e-mail: yalopez.tsc@gmail.com
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José A. Martínez-Lorenzo
José A. Martínez-Lorenzo
Department of Mechanical and
Industrial Engineering,
Northeastern University,
211 Snell Engineering Center,
360 Huntington Avenue,
Boston, MA 02115
e-mail: j.martinez-lorenzo@neu.edu
Industrial Engineering,
Northeastern University,
211 Snell Engineering Center,
360 Huntington Avenue,
Boston, MA 02115
e-mail: j.martinez-lorenzo@neu.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Yuri Álvarez-López
Área de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones,
Universidad de Oviedo,
Edificio Polivalente,
Mod. 8, 8.1.02. Campus Universitario de Gijón,
Gijón 33203, Spain
e-mail: yalopez.tsc@gmail.com
Universidad de Oviedo,
Edificio Polivalente,
Mod. 8, 8.1.02. Campus Universitario de Gijón,
Gijón 33203, Spain
e-mail: yalopez.tsc@gmail.com
José A. Martínez-Lorenzo
Department of Mechanical and
Industrial Engineering,
Northeastern University,
211 Snell Engineering Center,
360 Huntington Avenue,
Boston, MA 02115
e-mail: j.martinez-lorenzo@neu.edu
Industrial Engineering,
Northeastern University,
211 Snell Engineering Center,
360 Huntington Avenue,
Boston, MA 02115
e-mail: j.martinez-lorenzo@neu.edu
1Corresponding author.
Contributed by the Noise Control and Acoustics Division of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF VIBRATION AND ACOUSTICS. Manuscript received July 3, 2015; final manuscript received January 18, 2016; published online April 7, 2016. Assoc. Editor: Nicole Kessissoglou.
J. Vib. Acoust. Jun 2016, 138(3): 031009 (13 pages)
Published Online: April 7, 2016
Article history
Received:
July 3, 2015
Revised:
January 18, 2016
Citation
Álvarez-López, Y., and Martínez-Lorenzo, J. A. (April 7, 2016). "On the Use of Ultrasound-Based Technology for Cargo Inspection." ASME. J. Vib. Acoust. June 2016; 138(3): 031009. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4032724
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