Signal Processing and Pattern Recognition in Nondestructive Evaluation of Materials

de C. H. Chen

This proceedings volume includes presentations from a NATO Advanced Research Workshop held August 19-22, 1987 at the Manoir St-Castin, Lac Beauport, Quebec, Canada. Modern signal processing, pattern recognition and artificial intelligence have been playing an increasingly important role in improving nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and testing techniques. The cross fertilization of these areas can lead to major advances in NDE as well as presenting a new research area in signal processing. This publication, like the meeting itself, is unique in the sense that it provides extensive interactions among the interrelated areas of NDE. The book starts with research advances on inverse problems and then covers different aspects of digital waveform processing in NDE and eddy current signal analysis. These are followed by four papers on pattern recognition and AI in NDE, and five papers on image processing and reconstruction in NDE. The last two papers deal with parameter estimation problems. The book has an excellent collection of both tutorial and research papers in the field of NDE signal processing. While most signal processing work has not yet been integrated into practical NDE systems, the future direction clearly shows greatly increased use of signal processing in NDE.