Estimation of time-of-arrival errors of acoustic-emission signals by the threshold method

A technique for determining the times of arrival of acoustic-emission (AE) signals at the probes of a piezoelectric antenna with simultaneous estimation of their errors is considered. To increase the localization accuracy, it is proposed to refine the times of arrival by linearly approximating the leading edge of an AE signal taking into account the influence of noise. The slope of the leading edge is calculated according to the criterion of the minimum rms deviation from the signal envelope using the moving-window method. Examples of use of the developed method for calculating the coordinates of flaws in strength tests of structural elements are considered.