Wave separation: Application for arrival time detection in ultrasonic signals

•We propose a technique to extract echoes from complex ultrasonic signals.•We validated the technique using signals from different benchmark experiments.•The accuracy of the arrival time of echoes was studied.•Our technique can be used to analyze signals with low and high frequency content.

A method to detect and accurately measure the arrival time of wave packets in ultrasonic signals using a nonlinear decomposition technique is presented. We specifically address the problem of extracting events that are not well separated in the time, space and frequency domains. Analysis of complex ultrasonic signals, even those composed of poorly separated echoes, provided exceptional estimates of the desired time of arrival, from the media under investigation.