Low-Power, Low-Cost, High Performance Beamformer for Medical Ultrasound Scanners. Phase I
Abstract
Ultrasonic imaging is the preferred method for noninvasive tissue examination and real-time evaluation of blood flow. Foreign items (e.g., radiolucent shrapnel) embedded in the body can also be imaged. While this would greatly aid combat field medics and civilian emergency medical technicians, current ultrasound scanners are too large, heavy, and power consumptive for battery operation. Major scanner functions' size, weight, and power must be significantly reduced for portable operation. The beamformer dynamically focuses, apodizes, and steers both transmitted and received ultrasonic waveforms. Modem beamformers typically utilize an analog-to-digital (ADC) at each element, followed by digital memory and signal processing circuitry. The beamformer is amenable to the extensive size, weight, and power reduction possible using charge-coupled device (CCD) technology. A full beamformer chip was specified under the Phase I program. Its critical elements were designed and fabricated. This beamformer will yield a system with performance comparable to the current commercial state of the art, at roughly 10% of the size, weight, and power of a digital approach. Limitations of the CCDs were evaluated and shown to have negligible effect on image quality. Under Phase II, a complete multichannel beamformer chip will be designed and fabricated.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADB215719
Entities
People
- Marshall K. Quick
- Matthew O'donnell
- Steven R. Freeman
- Thomas E. Linnenbrink