Method for examining materials using acoustic spectroscopy
A device for examining biological and non-biological materials via acoustic spectroscopy includes an ultrasonic transmission device and an ultrasonic reception device for receiving a reflected and/or transmitted ultrasonic reception signal after said signal has passed through the material to be examined. The transmission device transmits ultrasonic transmission signals having different frequencies and the reception device receives corresponding ultrasonic reception signals. Time-of-flight values of the allocated ultrasonic signals can be identified from every signal pair using a first processing device, and the attenuation values of the allocated ultrasonic signal can be identified from every signal pair using a second processing device. For every frequency of the different transmission signals and reception signals, the corresponding identified time-of-flight values and attenuation values can be stored as a results dataset.
1. A method for examining biological and non-biological materials via acoustic spectroscopy, said method comprising the following steps:
transmitting a plurality of ultrasonic transmission signals, each of the plurality of transmission signals being transmitted at a different frequency from the others of the plurality of transmission signals;
receiving a corresponding plurality of reflected or transmitted ultrasonic reception signals after the signals passed through a material to be examined;
determining a time of flight and directly measuring frequency dependent time-of-flight values for each of the plurality of transmission signals and the corresponding reception signal;
identifying frequency-dependent attenuation values for each of the plurality of transmission signals and the corresponding reception signal; and
storing the time of flight values and the attenuation values for each frequency in a results dataset.
2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of deriving a reduced results dataset from the results dataset, said reduced results dataset having a smaller data volume than the results dataset.
3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising the step of determining the maximal time-of-flight value and the minimal time-of-flight value in the results data set and the maximal attenuation value and the minimal attenuation value in the results data set and storing the maximum time-of-flight value, the minimal time-of-flight value, the maximal attenuation value, and the minimal attenuation value as the reduced results dataset.
4. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising the step of determining the maximal time-of-flight value, the minimal time-of-flight value, the maximal attenuation value, and the minimal attenuation value in said several results datasets, and storing the maximal time-of-flight value, minimal time of flight value, maximal attenuation value, and minimal attenuation value as the reduced results dataset.
5. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising the step of determining at least one quantile of the time-of-flight values in the results dataset and at least one quantile of the attenuation values in the results dataset, and storing the quantiles as the reduced results dataset.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of deriving at least one value qualifying the material from the results dataset or the reduced results dataset.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the qualifying value is derived on the basis of a pattern comparison of the results dataset or reduced results datasets with comparative results datasets stored in a databank, said comparative results datasets having been determined by measuring comparative materials having known properties.
8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of identifying the time-of-flight with a resolution of at least 10 picoseconds.
9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of parallel processing a received ultrasonic reception signal.
10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of generating the longitudinal ultrasonic waves in the range between 1 and 15 MHz.
11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of individually transmitting the plurality of ultrasonic transmission signals having different frequencies one after the other.
12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of modulating ultrasonic transmission signals having different frequencies on a shared carrier signal in the ultrasonic transmission device and transmitting together.
13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of transmitting each of the plurality of ultrasonic transmission signals at a different amplitude from the others of the plurality of ultrasonic transmission signals.
14. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising the step of deriving at least one value qualifying the material from the results dataset or the reduced results dataset.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the material to be examined is body tissue.
16. A method for examining biological and non-biological materials via acoustic spectroscopy, said method comprising the following steps:
transmitting a plurality of ultrasonic transmission signals, each of the plurality of transmission signals being transmitted at a different frequency from the others of the plurality of transmission signals;
receiving a corresponding plurality of reflected or transmitted ultrasonic reception signals after the signals passed through a material to be examined;
determining a time of flight and directly measuring frequency dependent time-of-flight values for each of the plurality of transmission signals and the corresponding reception signal;
measuring frequency-dependent attenuation values for each of the plurality of transmission signals and the corresponding reception signal; and
storing the time of flight values and the attenuation values for each frequency in a results dataset.
17. A method for examining biological and non-biological materials via acoustic spectroscopy, said method comprising the following steps:
transmitting a plurality of ultrasonic transmission signals, each of the plurality of transmission signals being transmitted at a different frequency from the others of the plurality of transmission signals;
receiving a corresponding plurality of reflected or transmitted ultrasonic reception signals after the signals passed through a material to be examined;
parallel processing the corresponding plurality of reflected or transmitted ultrasonic reception signals by splitting the corresponding plurality of reflected or transmitted ultrasonic reception signals and directing the corresponding plurality of reflected or transmitted ultrasonic reception signals to a first processing device and a second processing device;
determining a time of flight and directly measuring frequency dependent time-of-flight values for each of the plurality of transmission signals and the corresponding reception signal by the first processing device and identifying frequency-dependent attenuation values for each of the plurality of transmission signals and the corresponding reception signal by the second processing device; and
storing the time of flight values and the attenuation values for each frequency in a results dataset.