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Abstract

We propose a novel recurrence plot-based approach, the difference recurrence plot (DRP), to detect small deviations between measurements. By using a prototypical model system, we demonstrate the potential of DRPs and the difference to alternative measures, such as Pearson correlation, spectral analysis, or cross and joint recurrence analysis. Real-world data comes from an application of guided ultrasonic waves for structural health monitoring to detect damages in a composite plate. The specific challenge for this damage detection is to differentiate between defects and the influence of temperature. We show that DRPs are suited in the following sense: DRPs of two time series that derive from measurements at different temperatures hold practically full recurrence, whereas DRPs of one time series from a measurement without and one time series with defect show a hugely reduced recurrence rate.