A method of evaluating tissue stiffness of a target area includes positioning an ultrasound elasticity imaging apparatus adjacent a surface of an area of tissue where the target area is located and applying a dynamic range of force to the tissue. A plurality of ultrasound beams can be directed at the tissue and a plurality of ultrasound echoes can be acquired from the strained tissue in the target area to calculate an amount of developed strain within the target area.

A damage evaluation device includes: a phased array probe that irradiates an ultrasonic signal from a surface of an inspection metal toward an inside of the inspection metal and detects a reflection signal reflected in a predetermined region inside the inspection metal; and an arithmetic processor. The arithmetic processor sets planes parallel to each other in an inspection region, calculates pixel data by quantifying the reflection signal from segments set in each of the planes; calculates a scattering degree of the pixel data, and evaluates damage of the inspection metal based on the scattering degree.

An ultrasonic quality control as disclosed can inspect a quality of a piece and classify the piece automatically. The piece can be scanned, and an image formed from the scanning. A reference piece is also scanned, and a reference image is formed. A negative image of the reference image is formed, and an indication image is created by utilizing the image and the negative image. The indication image is filtered by utilizing several image filters, each image filter filtering all data of the indication image except an image filter specific indication level data. Further several indication levels data are provided from the image filter specific indication level data, and the piece can be classified utilizing the several indication levels data.

An apparatus for detecting a crack of a semiconductor chip may include a crack sensor including a charging pattern disposed on a first surface of a target layer in which cracks are to be detected, a charge sinking pattern disposed on a second surface of the target layer, and a connecting pattern that electrically connects the charging pattern to the charge sinking pattern. The apparatus for detecting a crack may further include a charger for charging electric charges to the charging pattern, an image detector for obtaining an image of the charging pattern, and a determination unit that detects a discolored charging pattern from the image of the charging pattern and determines that a crack has occurred in a portion of the target layer in which the discolored charging pattern is located.

Disclosed is a battery in-situ test system. The battery in-situ test system comprises a charging and discharging module, an environment module and a mechanical loading module, wherein a to-be-tested battery is electrically connected with the charging and discharging module, the environment module comprises a temperature control box, the to-be-tested battery, an optical imaging module, an infrared thermal imaging module and an ultrasonic scanning imaging module are arranged in the temperature control box. The test environment is simulated through the environment module, and the optical imaging module is used for observing the microscopic deformation or damage of the surface of the to-be-tested battery; the infrared thermal imaging module is used for identifying the temperature distortion point of the to-be-tested battery and observing the thermal runaway process of the to-be-tested battery; and the ultrasonic scanning imaging module is used for monitoring the damage, lithium separation and charge state of the to-be-tested battery.

Provided is an acoustic coupler for ultrasound imaging that can detect a posture of an ultrasound probe from an image. An acoustic coupler includes: a first layer in contact with an ultrasound probe of an ultrasound imaging device; a second layer in contact with an imaging target; and an intermediate layer made of a material having a high elastic modulus between the first layer and the second layer. The intermediate layer includes a plurality of markers made of a material that reflects an ultrasound wave, at different positions in an ultrasound wave propagation direction, for example, near a boundary between two adjacent layers. The ultrasound imaging device detects the posture of the ultrasound probe based on images of the markers included in an ultrasound image.

An ultrasound device, including a profile generator, an encoder configured to receive a profile signal from the profile generator, and an attenuator configured to receive a signal representing an output of an ultrasound sensor and coupled to the encoder to receive a control signal from the encoder, the attenuator including a plurality of attenuator stages, the attenuator configured to produce an output signal that is an attenuated version of the input signal.

An apparatus may include one or more optical fibers, one or more optical waveguides, and multiple resonator nodes arranged in an array of sensing locations. Each resonator node may include an optical coupling between an optical waveguide and an optical fiber having a set of resonant frequencies at a respective sensing location. Each resonator node may be further configured to communicate a set of signals corresponding to at least one shift in the set of resonant frequencies in the optical fiber at the respective sensing location.

Examples of the present subject matter provide techniques for compressive sampling of acoustic data. A probe may sample in a compression mode, such that the entire matrix is not sampled at full-time resolution or spatial resolution. Therefore, the initial amount of data captured by the probe is reduced, allowing for lower density hardware (e.g., fewer analog-to-digital conversion channels or related analog front-end hardware) to be used at a lower data rate.

Optical whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator-based acoustic sensors, imaging systems that make use of the acoustic sensors, and methods of detecting ultrasound waves using the acoustic sensors are disclosed.