Detecting parabolas in ultrasound B-scan images with Genetic-Based Inverse Voting Hough Transform

In this paper we propose a Genetic-Based Inverse Voting Hough Transform (GBIVHT) method for detecting parabolic shapes iii B-scan images obtained by the ultrasonic Time Of Flight Diffraction inspection technique. These parabolic shapes are characteristics of the presence of crack defects in the engineering structure under inspection. In our method, the local peak detection problem in the parameters space of conventional Hough Transform is converted into a parameter optimization problem that operates directly on the ultrasound B-scan image. The optimization is done using the well-known Genetic Algorithms. Our main goals are an accurate detection of the parabolas while circumventing the computational complexity and huge storage problem tied to conventional Hough Transform.