A Soft Computing Approach to Crack Detection and Impact Source Identification with Field-Programmable Gate Array Implementation

Abstract

The real-time nondestructive testing (NDT) for crack detection and impact source identification (CDISI) has attracted the researchers from diverse areas. This is apparent from the current work in the literature. CDISI has usually been performed by visual assessment of waveforms generated by a standard data acquisition system. In this paper we suggest an automation of CDISI for metal armor plates using a soft computing approach by developing a fuzzy inference system to effectively deal with this problem. It is also advantageous to develop a chip that can contribute towards real time CDISI. The objective of this paper is to report on efforts to develop an automated CDISI procedure and to formulate a technique such that the proposed method can be easily implemented on a chip. The CDISI fuzzy inference system is developed using MATLAB’s fuzzy logic toolbox. A VLSI circuit for CDISI is developed on basis of fuzzy logic model using Verilog, a hardware description language (HDL). The Xilinx ISE WebPACK9.1i is used for design, synthesis, implementation, and verification. The CDISI field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation is done using Xilinx’s Spartan 3 FPGA. SynaptiCAD’s Verilog Simulators—VeriLogger PRO and ModelSim—are used as the software simulation and debug environment.