INTEGRATION OF DIFFERENT SCANNING MODALITIES FOR REAL‐TIME DUAL‐CHANNEL ULTRASONIC INSPECTION OF AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES

A dual‐channel ultrasonic inspection system has been developed for real‐time three‐dimensional evaluation of large area aircraft structures. High resolution imaging channel with an ultrasonic CCD camera presents large real‐time planar (X‐Y plane) images of the structures while another acquisition channel analyzes in‐depth (Z‐axis) ultrasonic scans presenting data in an A‐scan format. The dual‐channel imaging system provides “on demand” refocusing of the imaging plane to achieve the highest possible resolution and quality of the ultrasonic images at or close to the focal plane of the imaging device.