Method and device for processing wide-band signals having a large dynamic range

Abstract

Abstract ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In the processing of a wide-band, analog ultrasonic echo signals of a large dynamic range, and especially echo sig-nals generated in the ultrasonic testing of material, signal distortions must be avoided in order to enable an exact analy-sis of fault signals and a good reproducibility. To accomplish this object, the signals generated by an ultrasonic detector are supplied to a linear preamplifier generating analog output signals. The analog output signals are fed to an analog-to-digital converter, which converts them directly and in parallel way into logarithmically encoded digital signals. In these digital signals one bit is assigned to the polarity of the in-put signals while the other bits correspond to the respective level of the ultrasonic echo signal. The analog-to-digital con-verter is composed of a plurality of parallel-connected units, which together define a logarithmic characteristic curve for positive and negative output signals of the preamplifier. The digital signals are supplied to an evaluation unit connected to the analog-to-digital converter. In this manner, notwithstand-ing the wide-band ultrasonic echo signals of large dynamic range, substantially distortionless processing is achieved.

Inventors

• 👤 Raimund Lang
• 👤 Jorg Quittkat
• 👤 Manfred Dolag

Bibliographic Details