Color Rendering of Phase Information in Acoustic Images

Background In certain environments, objects with very different structure can generate echoes that appear very similar in conventional acoustic displays. Examples in underwater acoustics applications are trapped gas and rigid reflectors, both of which can be responsible for very bright acoustic returns in echo soundings. However, a trapped gas pocket will invert the phase of an echo, while a rigid object will not.

Invention Description The technology is a method for identifying objects by generating color maps using acoustic images. It works by mapping phase information into image color. The phase colormapping technique assigns image color according to phase structure, allowing features to be classified according to the phases of their echoes.

Benefits

With this technology, acoustically mapped structures can be more readily identified.

Features

Acoustically, structures of differing properties may appear similar due to the way the structure generates echoes. Phase colormapping can convey additional information about a structure that can be useful for classification.

Market Potential/Applications Oil and gas exploration: remote identification of gas hydrates, and identification of sea surface multiples in seismic displays Medical devices: feature extraction in medical ultrasonic imaging Underwater acoustics

UT Researcher Frank A. Boyle, Ph.D., Applied Research Laboratories, The University of Texas at Austin

Type of Offer: Licensing



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