In November 2021, Testia CTO Guillaume Ithurralde gave an online presentation at the International Ultrasonic Testing Conference 2021 (UT-Online 2021), organized by ndt.net. His talk covers challenges and developments of NDT ultrasonic data processing and how Testia’s NDTkitUT sotware helps to reduce barriers between different UT data formats and standards.
The presentation is available online via open access on ndt.net as a screencast video.
Abstract
While artificial intelligence (AI) is a major R & D topic today, the growing importance of data is clear to all. Unlike X-ray testing, ultrasound testing (UT) data is recorded in various formats, depending on the proprietary software of the company which provides the acquisition system. Most of the associated analysis softwares are “black boxes” which do not allow users to add specific features. This situation causes difficulties for industrial companies to capitalize on dedicated post-processing tools for their applications, and to take advantage of the latest AI developments.
Since 2004, Airbus, the parent company of Testia, invested in the development of “NDTkitUT” software to overcome these barriers. This also manages the huge quantityof UT data acquired in its plants involved in the manufacturing of components made of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP). This guarantees the possibility to read raw data all along aircrafts life cycles, typically 20 to 30 years on average. Testia is responsible not only for the development of NDTkitUT, but also for the software maintenance and for the promotion and diversification into other industries.
This paper starts with a reminder of the main diagnosis assistance features required by the aerospace industry: data merging, defects detection and clustering, porosity content evaluation, thickness measurements, automatic reporting, etc. The second section discusses new capabilities developed for end-to-end (E2E) digital continuity, one of the pillars of NDE4.0. Major examples consist of exporting analysis results to either cloud hosted databases, and/or digital mock-ups (DMU), to help design offices to manage concessions. Finally, it presents some direct transfers of existing features like scripts & plug-ins. Some of which were developed either by Testia or by customers themselves for use in other industries, such as: raw metallic materials, welds & bond lines, forged parts, corrosion mapping, glass fibre reinforced plastics, etc.
More info and contact
If you are interested to learn more about the ultrasonic data processing abilities of NDTkit UT, please visit our dedicated product page or contact us directly.