A multi-channel ultrasonic non-destructive testing system based on Ethernet

Generally, more than 120 ultrasonic sensors are necessary in a non-destructive testing (NDT) system for wide and thick steel plates. With the increase of the numbers of sensors, the system becomes more complex. It means that much higher automatization level is required in the parameters setting and much higher efficiency is demanded on data transmission in the network. This paper presents a novel ultrasonic NDT system based on the Ethernet network. The system accommodates 196 sensors and can detect plates with 4.8-meter width. The solution solves the data communication problem successfully. New technologies on hardware and software are introduced to improve the automatization level. All endeavors we have made ensure the new detection system can set parameters, adjust parameters automatically and complete the whole detection task automatically. In this paper, the network topology,. network configuration and measures on real-time data transmission are also discussed. It is proved that the system is feasible in practice.