Patent ID: 9733217
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: G01N

Claim:
1. An apparatus for providing a structural condition of a structure, the apparatus comprising: an excitation wave generator operatively mountable with the structure for injecting an excitation burst wave into the structure at a given emission location, the excitation burst wave propagating in the structure; an excitation wave sensor operatively mountable with the structure at a given reception location for obtaining a measured propagated excitation burst wave; a control unit operatively connected to the excitation wave generator and to the excitation wave sensor, the control unit being further operatively connectable to a database comprising a plurality of theoretical dispersed versions of the excitation burst wave, each one of the plurality of theoretical dispersed versions of the excitation burst wave corresponding to a reflection of the excitation burst wave at a respective one of a plurality of target points within the structure for a respective emission location for the excitation wave generator and a respective reception location of the excitation wave sensor, the control unit comprising a processing unit adapted for cross-correlating the measured propagated excitation burst wave with the plurality of theoretical dispersed versions of the excitation burst waves to obtain a plurality of cross-correlation coefficients each between the measured propagated excitation burst wave detected at the given reception location and a respective one of the plurality of theoretical dispersed versions of the excitation burst wave; and a structural condition providing unit operatively connected to the control unit for providing an indication of the structural condition of the structure using the obtained plurality of cross-correlation coefficients.