PM40 Pulser Receiver
Instrumentation
At the heart of every conventional ultrasonics system is our world leading pulser receiver.

About our PM40 pulser receiver
The PM40 high-performance PC based ultrasonic pulser receiver achieves industry leading performance with the convenience and flexibility of a PC board package. With exceptionally low noise characteristics, high-gain and signal to noise ratio and wide dynamic range, the PM40 can be applied in the most demanding situations.
In production environments, the noise immunity and high PRF capability makes it ideally suited to industrial testing systems.
The logarithmic detector in the PM40 provides an exceptionally wide instantaneous dynamic range at a single gain setting which is ideal for inspection of aerospace composites and capture of both high-level and low-level signals in a single scan.
Incorporating sophisticated pulse control and amplifier filtering, the characteristics can be matched to suit virtually any ultrasonic transducer.
The PM40 is used in conjunction with a remote Pulser Pre-Amplifier (PPA15) or a USL Multiplexer (MUX8) providing up to 32 channels in pulse echo and through transmission modes.
Connection to the remote units – up to 300 metres – is made with a custom umbilical cable giving exceptional noise immunity.
The settings in the main pulser-receiver can be switched at full PRF rates, up to 20kHz. This is ideal for situations where multi-channel systems use different probe frequencies or different gains.
The PM40 high-performance PC based ultrasonic pulser receiver achieves industry leading performance with the convenience and flexibility of a PC board package. With exceptionally low noise characteristics, high-gain and signal to noise ratio and wide dynamic range, the PM40 can be applied in the most demanding situations.
In production environments, the noise immunity and high PRF capability makes it ideally suited to industrial testing systems.
The logarithmic detector in the PM40 provides an exceptionally wide instantaneous dynamic range at a single gain setting which is ideal for inspection of aerospace composites and capture of both high-level and low-level signals in a single scan.
Incorporating sophisticated pulse control and amplifier filtering, the characteristics can be matched to suit virtually any ultrasonic transducer.
The PM40 is used in conjunction with a remote Pulser Pre-Amplifier (PPA15) or a USL Multiplexer (MUX8) providing up to 32 channels in pulse echo and through transmission modes.
Connection to the remote units – up to 300 metres – is made with a custom umbilical cable giving exceptional noise immunity.
The settings in the main pulser-receiver can be switched at full PRF rates, up to 20kHz. This is ideal for situations where multi-channel systems use different probe frequencies or different gains.
Click on any of the titles listed below to see the full specifications
Format & Control
Format:
Single PCI/PCIe expansion board
Control:
Via I2C, USB or PCIe bus
Inputs/Outputs
PPA/MUX Interface:
D-type connector on end bracket for connection to PPA15 interface unit or USL MUX8 multiplexer
Outputs:
4 outputs selectable in pairs as RF, rectified, logarithmic, secondary amplifier or external input signal
Trigger:
Internal or external
Data:
All settings can be read back
Pulser
Pulse voltage:
0-600 volts into 50 ohms
Rise Time:
< 10 nanoseconds (10%-90%)
Fall time:
<15 nanoseconds (10%-90%)
Pulse shape:
Square wave (spike pulse at lowest setting of pulse width)
Pulse width:
10-500 nanoseconds, measured at 50% amplitude points
Pulse control:
Width software controlled in 256 steps
Voltage software controlled in 5V stepsPRF:
20kHz maximum
Pre-Amplifier
Bandwidth:
<0.5 – 45MHz (-3dB)
Gain/attenuation:
0, 10 & 20dB
Mode:
Pulse-echo (PE), Through-transmission (TT)
Damping:
33, 50, 100 & 200 ohms
Receiver
Gain range:
0-100dB linear, 0, 10, 20dB (logarithmic)
Accuracy:
±0.2dB
Gain adjustment:
Main amplifier (linear amp) – 0.1dB steps
Log detector (logarithmic) – 0, 10 & 20dB + 0-10dB in 0.1dB stepsBandwidth:
Linear 0.5 – 30MHz (-3dB), Log 0.5 – 15MHz (-3dB)
RF filters, band-pass:
Selectable pre-rectification/pre-detection filters having adjustable bandwidth and centre frequency
Filter bandwidth:
0.5-2MHz, 1-4MHz, 2-8MHz, 4-15MHz, 8-32MHz
10 ranges:
Wide and narrow band selectable in all ranges
Frequency offset:
Centre frequency of filter can be adjusted within each bandwidth range in 60 discrete steps
Filters, low-pass:
5 selectable pre-rectifier/detection filters 30, 15, 10, 5, 2.5MHz (-3dB)
Filters, high-pass:
100kHz, 500kHz, 1.2MHz
Rectifier:
Full wave, +ve half wave, -ve half wave
Rectifier O/P filter:
Selectable – 240 settings (Slope range 5 to 255)
Log detector:
90dB instantaneous range, accuracy ±0.5dB
Log O/P filters:
6 ranges – 500kHz to 15MHz
Log O/P sensitivity:
Log output 30mV/dB
DAC/TVG
Gain step clock range:
100kHz to 10MHz (7 options)
No. gain steps per DAC ramp:
Selectable, 1 to 100
Ramp duration:
100nS (1 point @ 10MHz) to 10mS (1000 points @ 100kHz)
Max gain change in ramp:
60dB in 0.1dB steps
Ramp slope:
Recommended minimum 20dB/mS (60dB/100nS possible)
DAC/TVG control:
On/Off
Trigger from PRF or interface echo, +ve or -ve
Trigger threshold programmable
I/F trigger blanking 0-6.55mS in 100nS steps
DAC/TVG delay trigger 0-150nS in 10nS stepsA/D Converters
Dual ADCs:
Each 14 bit, 250MSPS
Sampling rate:
1MSPS to 250 MSPS in independent mode
2MSPS to 500MSPS in combined modeOn-board memory:
32k samples per ADC
Secondary Amplifier
Function:
Independent of main amplifier, typically used for backwall monitoring
Gain range:
0-50dB in 0.1dB steps
Filter, low-pass:
15, 5MHz
Filter, high-pass:
1.5, 0.5MHz
PPA Self-Check
Function:
Programmable frequency/amplitude sine wave input for automated performance assurance
Frequency range:
400kHz to 20MHz in 5kHz steps
Input amplitude:
30µV P-P to 1V P-P
Self-Test
Function:
The PM40 incorporates comprehensive on-board self-test functions which monitor all power rails and PCB temperature. In the event any of these are outside permitted range, the PM40 will force outputs to a known non-functional safe state and set on-board LED to alarm state.
Software
OEM:
Software Development Kit (SDK) and Application Programming Interface (API) for OEM customers available on request.