The present invention is a miniature videoprobe system having a probe termination box, a strong back, and a videoprobe housing. The videoprobe system is able to obtain images from a restricted space at least as small as 0.125 inches while producing a high quality image. The strong back has a hockey stick shape with the probe termination box connecting to the top of the handle-like portion of the hockey stick and the videoprobe housing attaching to the opposite end or nose of the hockey stick shape. The videoprobe housing has a roughly arrowhead shape with two thin steel plates sandwiching the internal components there between. The internal components are connected in series to allow for a minor dimension of the videoprobe housing of 0.110 inches. The internal components include an optics train, a CCD chip, and an electronics package. An electrical signal is transmitted from the electronics package through wiring within an internal channel of the strong back to the probe termination box. The strong back has milled into it multiple internal channels for facilitating the transfer of information, items, or devices between the probe termination box and the videoprobe housing.

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic scanner and method for the imaging of a part surface, the scanner comprising: a probe assembly spaced apart from the surface including at least two tracking signals for emitting electromagnetic radiation and a transmitter for emitting ultrasonic waves onto a surface in order to induce at least a portion of said waves to be reflected from the surface, at least one detector for receiving the electromagnetic radiation wherein the detector is positioned to receive said radiation from the tracking signals, an analyzing means for recognizing a three-dimensional location of the tracking signals based on said emitted electromagnetic radiation, a differential conversion means for generating an output signal representative of the waveform of the reflected waves, and a means for relating said tracking signal location with the output signal and projecting an image of the resulting data. The scanner and method are particularly useful to acquire ultrasonic inspection data by scanning the probe-over a complex part surface in an arbitrary scanning pattern.