Ultrasound Testing

An apparatus for imaging structural features below a surface of an object, the apparatus comprising:

• a pulse generation unit configured to form a pulse having a particular shape for transmission as a sound pulse, where the shape of the pulse is selected in dependence on at least one of a type of structural feature to be imaged, a depth of the structural feature to be imaged and a material type of the object;
• a matrix array configured to:
• transmit the sound pulse at the object;
• and
• receive, from the object, a signal that includes representations of reflections of the transmitted sound pulse;
• a signal processing unit configured to:
• analyse the signal received by the matrix array;
• identify, in the signal, a representation of a reflection that was caused by a first structural feature in the object and a representation of a reflection that was caused by a second structural feature in the object that is located at least partly behind the first structural feature;
• and determine, for each of the identified reflections, a relative depth in the object at which the identified reflection occurred;
• and
• an image generation unit configured to generate an image that includes a representation of the first and second structural features in dependence on the identified reflections and their relative depths.

A method for imaging structural features below a surface of an object comprising:

• selecting a pulse having a particular shape for transmission as a sound pulse, the shape being selected in dependence on at least one of a type of structural feature to be imaged, a depth of the structural feature to be imaged and a material type of the object;
• transmitting the sound pulse at the object;
• receiving, from the object, a signal that includes representations of reflections of the sound pulse transmitted at the object;
• identifying, in the signal received from the object, a representation of a reflection that was caused by a first structural feature in the object and a representation of a reflection that was caused by a second structural feature in the object that is located at least partly behind the first structural feature;
• determining, for each of the identified reflections, a relative depth in the object at which the identified reflection occurred;
• and
• generating an image that includes a representation of the first and second structural features in dependence on the identified reflections and their relative depths.