Patent ID: 7506546

Claim:
An ultrasonic object inspection system for measuring the physical properties of a test object comprising: a pulse generator for generating and transmitting an electrical pulse signal to a transducer; said transducer for receiving and converting said electrical pulse signal to an ultrasonic signal, applying said ultrasonic signal to said test object, receiving an ultrasonic echo signal from said test object, and converting said ultrasonic echo signal to an electrical echo signal, and transmitting said electrical echo signal to a signal processing circuit; said signal processing circuit for receiving and processing said electrical echo signal; said signal processing circuit comprising a plurality of signal processing paths, each of said signal processing paths scaling said electrical echo signal to a different degree and comprising a respective analog to digital converter for converting said electrical echo signal to a digital electrical echo signal; and said signal processing circuit further comprising a logic circuit for selecting the output of said respective analog to digital converter that provides the digital electrical echo signal having the greatest amplitude without exceeding a predetermined saturation threshold.