TY - JOUR
T1 - On the Arrays Distribution, Scan Sequence and Apodization in Coherent Dual-Array Ultrasound Imaging Systems
AU - Peralta, Laura
AU - Mazierli, Daniele
AU - Christensen-Jeffries, Kirsten
AU - Ramalli, Alessandro
AU - Tortoli, Piero
AU - Hajnal, Joseph V.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Royal Society (URF/R1/211049) and Wellcome Trust/EPSRC iFIND project IEH Award (102431) (www.iFINDproject.com). The University of Florence acknowledges the contribution of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Mission 4 Component 2—Investment 1.5—THE—Tuscany Health Ecosystem—funded by the European Union—NextGenerationEU—(CUP B83C22003920001) and the contribution of the project PRIN 2020—CONUS (grant number 20205HFXE7)—funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (CUP B13C21000190005).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - Coherent multi-transducer ultrasound (CoMTUS) imaging creates an extended effective aperture through the coherent combination of multiple arrays, which results in images with enhanced resolution, extended field-of-view, and higher sensitivity. However, this also creates a large discontinuous effective aperture that presents additional challenges for current beamforming methods. The discontinuities may increase the level of grating and side lobes and degrade contrast. Also, direct transmissions between multiple arrays, happening at certain transducer relative positions, produce undesirable cross-talk artifacts. Hence, the position of the transducers and the scan sequence play key roles in the beamforming algorithm and imaging performance of CoMTUS. This work investigates the role of the distribution of the individual arrays and the scan sequence in the imaging performance of a coherent dual-array system. First, the imaging performance for different configurations was assessed numerically using the point-spread-function, and then optimized settings were tested on a tissue mimicking phantom. Finally, a subset of the proposed optimum imaging schemes was experimentally validated on two synchronized ULA OP-256 systems equipped with identical linear arrays. Results show that CoMTUS imaging performance can be enhanced by optimizing the relative position of the arrays and the scan sequence together, and that the use of apodization can reduce cross-talk artifacts without degrading spatial resolution. Adding weighted compounding further decreases artifacts and helps to compensate for the differences in the brightness across the image. Setting the maximum steering angle according to the spatial configuration of the arrays reduces the sidelobe energy up to 10 dB plus an extra 4 dB reduction is possible when increasing the number of PWs compounded.
AB - Coherent multi-transducer ultrasound (CoMTUS) imaging creates an extended effective aperture through the coherent combination of multiple arrays, which results in images with enhanced resolution, extended field-of-view, and higher sensitivity. However, this also creates a large discontinuous effective aperture that presents additional challenges for current beamforming methods. The discontinuities may increase the level of grating and side lobes and degrade contrast. Also, direct transmissions between multiple arrays, happening at certain transducer relative positions, produce undesirable cross-talk artifacts. Hence, the position of the transducers and the scan sequence play key roles in the beamforming algorithm and imaging performance of CoMTUS. This work investigates the role of the distribution of the individual arrays and the scan sequence in the imaging performance of a coherent dual-array system. First, the imaging performance for different configurations was assessed numerically using the point-spread-function, and then optimized settings were tested on a tissue mimicking phantom. Finally, a subset of the proposed optimum imaging schemes was experimentally validated on two synchronized ULA OP-256 systems equipped with identical linear arrays. Results show that CoMTUS imaging performance can be enhanced by optimizing the relative position of the arrays and the scan sequence together, and that the use of apodization can reduce cross-talk artifacts without degrading spatial resolution. Adding weighted compounding further decreases artifacts and helps to compensate for the differences in the brightness across the image. Setting the maximum steering angle according to the spatial configuration of the arrays reduces the sidelobe energy up to 10 dB plus an extra 4 dB reduction is possible when increasing the number of PWs compounded.
KW - beamforming
KW - imaging
KW - large-aperture
KW - multi-transducers
KW - plane waves
KW - ultrasound
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85174207754&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/app131910924
DO - 10.3390/app131910924
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85174207754
SN - 2076-3417
VL - 13
JO - Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
JF - Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
IS - 19
M1 - 10924
ER -