Signal processing for ultrasound imaging systems

A method comprising:

• operating an ultrasonic wave generator to induce ultrasonic waves at each of multiple locations along a part being scanned;
• collecting data points that each indicate amplitude data and time-of-flight data of an ultrasonic wave at the part;
• calculating a standard deviation of the time-of-flight data for the data points (σtof);
• utilizing the amplitude data to quantify the part if σtof is less than a threshold value, and
• flagging the data points in memory as including noise if σtof is greater than the threshold value.

A system comprising:

• a memory;
• an interface;
• and
• a controller configured to operate the interface to retrieve a scan representing a part that has been inspected via ultrasonic imaging, to populate the memory with time-of-flight data and amplitude data for each of multiple data points within the scan, to calculate a standard deviation of the time-of-flight data for the data points (σtof), to calculate a threshold value based on a standard deviation of random time-of-flight data, and to selectively perform signal processing on the data points by:
• if σtof is less than the threshold value:
• generating a report quantifying the part based on the amplitude data for the data points, and storing the report in the memory, and
• if σtof is greater than the threshold value:
• updating the memory to flag the scan as including noise.