A system for detecting a kiss bond in a composite component , the system comprising: an ultrasonic transmitter configured to emit ultrasound energy into the composite component ; an ultrasonic receiver configured to receive reflected ultrasound energy from the composite component following an interaction between the composite component and the emitted ultrasound energy; at least one data processor; and non-transitory machine-readable memory operatively coupled to the at least one data processor, the machine-readable memory storing computer-readable instructions executable by the at least one data processor for: using reflected ultrasound data representative of the reflected ultrasound energy from the composite component received at the ultrasonic receiver, a first threshold amplitude value between 2% and 5% higher than a predetermined baseline noise amplitude value of expected material noise in the reflected ultrasound energy from the composite component , and a second threshold amplitude value higher than the first threshold amplitude value , wherein the second threshold amplitude value is a multiple of between 1.5 times and 2.5 times the first threshold amplitude, identifying one or more occurrences of an amplitude of the reflected ultrasound energy exceeding the threshold amplitude value and less than the second threshold amplitude value ; and detecting the kiss bond in the composite component based on the identified one or more occurrences of the amplitude of the reflected ultrasound energy. an ultrasonic transmitter configured to emit ultrasound energy into the composite component ; an ultrasonic receiver configured to receive reflected ultrasound energy from the composite component following an interaction between the composite component and the emitted ultrasound energy; at least one data processor; and non-transitory machine-readable memory operatively coupled to the at least one data processor, the machine-readable memory storing computer-readable instructions executable by the at least one data processor for: using reflected ultrasound data representative of the reflected ultrasound energy from the composite component received at the ultrasonic receiver, a first threshold amplitude value between 2% and 5% higher than a predetermined baseline noise amplitude value of expected material noise in the reflected ultrasound energy from the composite component , and a second threshold amplitude value higher than the first threshold amplitude value , wherein the second threshold amplitude value is a multiple of between 1.5 times and 2.5 times the first threshold amplitude, identifying one or more occurrences of an amplitude of the reflected ultrasound energy exceeding the threshold amplitude value and less than the second threshold amplitude value ; and detecting the kiss bond in the composite component based on the identified one or more occurrences of the amplitude of the reflected ultrasound energy. using reflected ultrasound data representative of the reflected ultrasound energy from the composite component received at the ultrasonic receiver, a first threshold amplitude value between 2% and 5% higher than a predetermined baseline noise amplitude value of expected material noise in the reflected ultrasound energy from the composite component , and a second threshold amplitude value higher than the first threshold amplitude value , wherein the second threshold amplitude value is a multiple of between 1.5 times and 2.5 times the first threshold amplitude, identifying one or more occurrences of an amplitude of the reflected ultrasound energy exceeding the threshold amplitude value and less than the second threshold amplitude value ; and detecting the kiss bond in the composite component based on the identified one or more occurrences of the amplitude of the reflected ultrasound energy. <EOS>