Patent ID: 8670952

Claim:
A non-destructive inspection (NDI) instrument operable to conduct an NDI test on a test object, comprising: a sensor connection circuitry configured to receive test signals from at least two types of NDI sensors, wherein at a given moment only one type of the NDI sensors is selected to obtain the test signals thereof from the object being tested, said sensor connection circuitry including at least two sensor-specific sensor circuits and at least one common sensor connection circuit; a data acquisition circuitry processing said signals to digital data, including at least two sensor-specific data acquisition circuits and at least one common data acquisition circuit; one or more digital data processors executing programs to process the digital data in a data processing unit and a display and user interface unit, wherein said data processing unit includes at least two sensor-specific processing modules and at least one common processing module, said display and user interface module including at least two sensor-specific user interface modules and at least one common user interface module, a display screen and a plurality of interfacing keys in communication with the display and interface module; and, a switching mechanism for selecting one sensor-specific sensor circuit from said sensor-specific sensor circuits, one sensor-specific data acquisition circuit from said sensor-specific data acquisition circuits, one sensor-specific processing module from said sensor-specific processing modules and one sensor-specific user interface module, and, for configuring said common sensor circuit, said common data acquisition circuit, said common processing module and said common interface module so that the instrument is operable to conduct the test suitable for said sensor circuit being selected.