Data registration for automated non-destructive inspection with multiple data sets.

In many NDE applications, multiple sources of data are available covering the same region of a part under inspection. These overlapping data can come from intersecting scan patterns, sensors in an array configuration, or repeated inspections at different times. In many cases these data sets are analysed independently, with separate assessments for each channel or data file. It should be possible to improve the overall reliability of the inspection by combining multiple sources of information, simultaneously increasing the Probability of Detection (POD) and decreasing the Probability of False Alarm (PFA). Data registration, i.e. mapping the data to matching coordinates in space, is both an essential prerequisite and a challenging obstacle to this type of data fusion. This paper describes optimization techniques for matching and aligning features in NDE data. Examples from automated ultrasound inspection of aircraft engine discs illustrate the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]