Claims
- 1. A method for testing an acoustic system having a plurality of transmitter elements and a plurality of receiver elements, the method comprising:
receiving a transmitter signal generated by a selected transmitter element; generating an echo electrical signal in response to receipt of the transmitter signal; transmitting the echo electrical signal to a selected receiver element; and analyzing information generated by the acoustic system with the selected receiver element in response to the echo electrical signal to diagnose operational characteristics of the selected receiver element.
- 2. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the information generated by the acoustic system comprises image information.
- 3. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the information generated by the acoustic system comprises Doppler information.
- 4. The method recited in claim 1 wherein transmitting the echo electrical signal comprises routing the echo electrical signal through a relay element configured for selective routing from a channel to a plurality of channels.
- 5. The method recited in claim 4 wherein transmitting the echo electrical signal further comprises routing the echo electrical signal through an adapter having a multichannel switch.
- 6. The method recited in claim 1 wherein transmitting the echo electrical signal to a selected receiver element comprises transmitting the echo electrical signal to each of a plurality of selected receiver elements.
- 7. The method recited in claim 6 further comprising:
generating a reference signal; determining a capacitance associated with each of the selected receiver elements from the reference signal; and diagnosing operational characteristics of the selected receiver elements from the determined capacitance.
- 8. The method recited in claim 7 wherein the reference signal comprises a linear voltage ramp signal.
- 9. The method recited in claim 1 wherein receiving a transmitter signal generated by a selected transmitter element comprises receiving a plurality of transmitter signals generated by a plurality of selected transmitter elements, the method further comprising comparing amplitudes of the received transmitter signals to diagnose operational characteristics of the selected transmitter elements.
- 10. The method recited in claim 9 wherein receiving the plurality of transmitter signals generated by the plurality of selected transmitter elements is performed in accordance with a natural cycling of the acoustic system.
- 11. Apparatus for testing an acoustic system having a plurality of transmitter elements and a plurality of receiver elements, the apparatus comprising:
a trigger generator adapted to receive a transmitter signal generated by a selected transmitter element; an echo synthesizer adapted to generate an echo electrical signal in response to receipt of the transmitter signal; and a relay element adapted to route the echo electrical signal to a selected receiver element.
- 12. The apparatus recited in claim 11 further comprising a computational unit configured to diagnose operational characteristics of the selected receiver element from information generated by the acoustic system with the selected receiver element in response the echo electrical signal.
- 13. The apparatus recited in claim 12 further comprising an image-capture device, wherein the information generated by the acoustic system comprises image information captured by the image-capture device.
- 14. The apparatus recited in claim 12 wherein the information generated by the acoustic system comprises Doppler information.
- 15. The apparatus recited in claim 12 wherein:
the transmitter signal generated by a selected transmitter element comprises a plurality of transmitter signals generated by a plurality of selected transmitter elements; the apparatus further comprises an analog-to-digital converter adapted to convert the plurality of transmitter signals for transmission to the computational unit; and the computational unit is further configured to diagnose operational characteristics of the selected transmitter elements by comparing amplitudes of the transmitter signals.
- 16. The apparatus recited in claim 11 further comprising an adapter adapted to interface between the relay element and the acoustic system, the adapter having a multichannel switch.
- 17. The apparatus recited in claim 11 wherein the relay element is adapted to route the echo electrical signal to each of a plurality of selected receiver elements.
- 18. The apparatus recited in claim 17 further comprising a waveform generator adapted to generate a reference signal with which a capacitance associated with each of the selected receiver elements may be determined.
- 19. The apparatus recited in claim 18 wherein the waveform generator is adapted to generate the reference signal in the form of a linear voltage ramp signal.
- 20. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein for directing operation of an apparatus including a trigger generator, an echo synthesizer, a relay element, and a computational unit, wherein the computer-readable program includes instructions for operating the apparatus to test an acoustic system having a plurality of transmitter elements and a plurality of receiver elements in accordance with the following:
receiving with the trigger generator a transmitter signal generated by a selected transmitter element; generating with the echo synthesizer an echo electrical signal in response to receipt of the transmitter signal; transmitting with the relay element the echo electrical signal to a selected receiver element; and analyzing with the computational unit information generated by the acoustic system with the selected receiver element to diagnose operational characteristics of the selected receiver element.
- 21. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 20 wherein the apparatus further includes an image-capture device, wherein the instructions for analyzing the information generated by the acoustic system include instructions for analyzing image information captured by the image-capture device.
- 22. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 20 wherein the instructions for analyzing the information generated by the acoustic system includes instructions for analyzing Doppler information.
- 23. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 20 wherein the apparatus further includes an analog-to-digital converter, the computer-readable program further including instructions to operated the apparatus in accordance with the following:
converting with the analog-to-digital converter a plurality of transmitter signals generated by a plurality of selected transmitter elements; and diagnosing with the computational unit operational characteristics of the selected transmitter elements by comparing amplitudes of the transmitter signals.
- 24. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 20 wherein the apparatus further includes an adapter having a multichannel switch, the computer-readable program further including instructions for transmitting the echo electrical signal through the adapter.
- 25. The computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 20 wherein the apparatus further includes a waveform generator, the computer-readable program further including instructions for generating a reference signal with which a capacitance associated with the selected receiver element may be determined.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to the following concurrently filed, commonly assigned U.S. Patent applications, the entire disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety: “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR TESTING ACOUSTIC PROBES AND SYSTEMS,” by James M. Gessert et al. Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 40100-000100US) and “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR INTERFACING ACOUSTIC TESTING APPARATUS WITH ACOUSTIC PROBES AND SYSTEMS,” by James M. Gessert et al. Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 40100-000300US).