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Development of a real-time, high-frequency ultrasound digital beamformer for high-frequency linear array transducers

2006; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Volume: 53; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1109/tuffc.2006.1593370

2373-7840

Chang-Hong Hu, Xiaochen Xu, Jonathan M. Cannata, Jesse T. Yen, K. K. Shung,

Speech and Audio Processing

A real-time digital beamformer for high-frequency ( >20 MHz) linear ultrasonic arrays has been developed. The system can handle up to 64-element linear array transducers and excite 16 channels and receive simultaneously at 100 MHz sampling frequency with 8-bit precision. Radio frequency (RF) signals are digitized, delayed, and summed through a real-time digital beamformer, which is implanted using a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Using fractional delay filters, fine delays as small as 2 ns can be implemented. A frame rate of 30 frames per second is achieved. Wire phantom (20 /spl mu/m tungsten) images were obtained and -6 dB axial and lateral widths were measured. The results showed that, using a 30 MHz, 48-element array with a pitch of 100 /spl mu/m produced a -6 dB width of 68 /spl mu/m in the axial and 370 /spl mu/m in the lateral direction at 6.4 mm range. Images from an excised rabbit eye sample also were acquired, and fine anatomical structures, such as the cornea and lens, were resolved.