Advanced ultrasonic measurement methodology for non-invasive interrogation and identification of fluids in sealed containers
Government agencies and homeland security related organizations have identified the need to develop and establish a wide range of unprecedented capabilities for providing scientific and technical forensic services to investigations involving hazardous chemical, biological, and radiological materials, including extremely dangerous chemical and biological warfare agents. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed a prototype portable, hand-held, hazardous materials acoustic inspection prototype that provides noninvasive container interrogation and material identification capabilities using nondestructive ultrasonic velocity and attenuation measurements. Due to the wide variety of fluids as well as container sizes and materials encountered in various law enforcement inspection activities, the need for high measurement sensitivity and advanced ultrasonic measurement techniques were identified. The prototype was developed using a versatile electronics platform, advanced ultrasonic wave propagation methods, and advanced signal processing techniques. This paper primarily focuses on the ultrasonic measurement methods and signal processing techniques incorporated into the prototype. High bandwidth ultrasonic transducers combined with an advanced pulse compression technique allowed researchers to 1) obtain high signal-to-noise ratios and 2) obtain accurate and consistent time-of-flight (TOF) measurements through a variety of highly attenuative containers and fluid media. Results of work conducted in the laboratory have demonstrated that the prototype experimental measurement technique also provided information regarding container properties, which will be utilized in future container-independent measurements of hidden liquids.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 901772
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-48797; TRN: US200715%%137
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Nonintrusive Inspection, Structures Monitoring, and Smart Systems for Homeland Security, Feb 27-28 2006, San Diego, CA, United States. Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, 6178:61780K
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ACOUSTICS
ATTENUATION
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGENTS
COMPRESSION
CONTAINERS
ENFORCEMENT
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
MONITORING
PROCESSING
SECURITY
SENSITIVITY
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
TRANSDUCERS
ULTRASONIC WAVES
VELOCITY
Ultrasonic
Time-of-Flight
Pulse Compression
Signal Processing
Cross Correlation
Velocity
Attenuation