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QuintSonic 7
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8.5 Postprocessing
8.5.1
General remarks
While the preprocessor is designed to extract the echoes from the echo signal curve by means of
the set clipping parameters and to optimise their position and size (least squares optimisation), the
postprocessor focuses on the selection of echoes. It aims to select from the extracted echoes only
those to be used for layer thickness calculation. In other words, unwanted echoes produced by
interference or noise will be identified and suppressed accordingly. For this purpose, a comparison
with the results from a cross section is of great help as the echoes at layer interfaces can thus be
quickly identified. Only the remaining echoes will be considered as being unwanted echoes and
can be suppressed accordingly by using appropriate methods.
QuintSonic 7 offers a number of postprocessing options that partially complement each other or
can be used alternatively. The postprocessor runs a set of possible selection mechanisms in a
fixed sequence. If certain processing methods are not activated, they will be jumped. Each
processing level identifies the echoes that have been suppressed and thus eliminated in this level
accordingly. This makes sure that at the end of the postprocessing procedure it will be clearly
shown by which selection criterion a certain echo has been suppressed and eliminated. On the A-
scan image, the peak of suppressed or invalid echoes is marked by an icon (see also section
7.4.7). So you can quickly identify why a certain echo has become invalid. This will help you to find
out whether a selection has been incorrect and remedy accordingly.
The following sections describe the selections methods available. They are listed according to their
running sequence.
8.5.2
Multiple-echo suppression
Some types of material (such as metals for instance) may produce strong echoes on both sides of
the layer interfaces. This is due to strong variations of the acoustic properties at the layer
interfaces and due to the weak attenuation of ultrasound in the material itself. Sound waves
travelling between two layer interfaces produce multiple reflections. As the sound, however, will
never be reflected completely, a part of the energy from each of the reflections will be sent back to
the sensor head. As a result, multiple echoes will disturb the evaluation and thus lead to erratic