9. Conclusion

Multi-element technology is now well known and mastered, and is already used in a wide range of industrial sectors, from aeronautics and nuclear power to rail transport and metallurgy.

The ability to select a transducer aperture, to deflect ultrasonic beams within a volume to be examined, to acquire information almost instantaneously from several firing angles, etc., are undeniable advantages for in-service inspection, considerably reducing the number of transducers to be used, and therefore saving time during assembly/disassembly and acquisition.

In addition, ongoing work on electronic system architecture, processing algorithms and analysis software interfaces, and on standardization, will enable this innovative technique to be deployed even more widely, making it faster, more flexible and more accessible.