Methods of signal processing and data interpretation for detecting microdefects in industrial materials
Kanan Mikayilov, Latafat GardashovaThe prompt and accurate detection of microdefects in industrial materials is a priority for improving product quality, production safety, and process optimisation. The purpose of this study was to create an automated inspection system that uses artificial intelligence to identify microdefects in industrial materials. The study was conducted on laboratory and industrial samples with microdefects using a multi-sensor system consisting of visual cameras, ultrasound, thermography, and X-rays. The data was pre-processed by filtering, normalising, and extracting contours and analysed using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Vision Transformer, and 3D CNN deep learning models with multimodal integration, transfer learning, augmentation, and weight optimisation, with the system performance evaluated by accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score metrics. A comprehensive analysis showed that the individual use of visual cameras with an accuracy of 92.3%, ultrasonic sensors with an accuracy of 89.5%, thermography with an accuracy of 85.1%, and an X-ray scanner with an accuracy of 95.6% provided high results, and their combination increased the integrated index to 97.8%, which confirms the advantages of the multichannel approach. The use of pre-processing methods (Gaussian and median filters, normalisation, histogram alignment) and augmentation increased the accuracy to 94.1% and the F1-score to 92.6% (compared to the initial 85.2%), while transfer learning increased accuracy by 12-15% and reduced training time, reducing the number of false positives. The system maintained an accuracy of over 90% in noise and variations in production conditions, and at least 80% in extreme scenarios. Practical tests on a server with NVIDIA A6000 GPUs showed an average sample processing time of 120-180 ms (5-8 FPS) and linear scalability with the number of GPUs, which confirmed the system’s suitability for integration into real-time industrial systems. The findings of this study can be used by quality control specialists and developers of industrial information and measurement systems to improve the accuracy and efficiency of microdefect detection
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