The design of portable scanning devices includes a light but rigid frame with supporting legs that allows for the positioning and adjustment of orientation on the tested surface. The combination of linear array with perpendicular mechanical displacement has been successfully realized in a number of experimental and commercial ultrasonic imaging systems. This method has been implemented in the ultrasonic imaging system based on the Tessonics 2D matrix probe. This chapter describes the development and production of portable ultrasonic imaging systems during last few decades, opening up wide new horizons for their applications. Dramatic miniaturization of complicated systems such as in acoustic microscopy will in the near future give experimentalists, engineers, and doctors a completely new generation of powerful, portable handheld analytical tools for precise quantitative and minute examinations and diagnostics.

Controlled Vocabulary Terms

acoustic microscopy; displacement measurement; ultrasonic imaging