Semi-Blind Deconvolution for Resolution Enhancement in Ultrasound Imaging

International audienceIn the field of ultrasound imaging, resolution enhancement is an up-to-date challenging task. Many device-based approaches have been proposed to overcome the low resolution nature of ultrasound images but very few works deal with post-processing methods. This paper investigates a novel approach based on semi-blind deconvolution formulation and alternating direction method framework in order to perform the ultrasound image restoration task. The algorithm performance is addressed using optical images and synthetic ultrasound data for a various range of criteria. The results demonstrate that our technique is more robust to uncertainties in the a priori ultrasonic pulse than classical non-blind deconvolution methods

Digital Signal Processing

Contains summary of research and reports on sixteen research projects.U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-75-C-0852)National Science Foundation FellowshipNATO FellowshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-75-C-0951)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS79-15226)U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0257)Bell LaboratoriesNational Science Foundation (Grant ECS80-07102)Schlumberger-Doll Research Center FellowshipHertz Foundation FellowshipGovernment of Pakistan ScholarshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0196)U.S. Air Force (Contract F19628-81-C-0002)Hughes Aircraft Company Fellowshi

Digital Signal Processing

Contains an introduction and reports on seventeen research projects.U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0266)Amoco Foundation FellowshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-81-K-0742)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS80-07102)U.S. Army Research Office (Contract DAAG29-81-K-0073)Hughes Aircraft Company FellowshipAmerican Edwards Labs. GrantWhitaker Health Sciences FundPfeiffer Foundation GrantSchlumberger-Doll Research Center FellowshipGovernment of Pakistan ScholarshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0196)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS79-15226)Hertz Foundation Fellowshi

Modulation Transfer Function Compensation Through A Modified Wiener Filter For Spatial Image Quality Improvement.

Kebergunaan data imej yang diperolehi dari suatu sensor pengimejan amat bergantung kepada keupayaan sensor tersebut untuk meresolusikan perincian spatial ke satu tahap yang boleh diterima. The usefulness of image data acquired from an imaging sensor critically depends on the ability of the sensor to resolve spatial details to an acceptable level

Amélioration de la résolution des images ultrasonores en mode B par déconvolution semi-aveugle

National audienceEn imagerie médicale, et plus précisément dans le domaine de l'imagerie ultrasonore, les problématiques liées à l'amélioration de la résolution font aujourd'hui l'objet de très nombreux travaux. Alors que beaucoup d'approches se consacrent à l'amélioration du dispositif d'acquisition des images échographiques (pré-traitement) pour pallier leur faible résolution, très peu de travaux se sont attachés à des techniques de post-traitement. Nous proposons ici une nouvelle approche pour la restauration d'image basée sur une formulation de type déconvolution semi-aveugle, résolue dans le cadre algorithmique de la méthode des directions alternées. Les performances de notre algorithme sont évaluées à l'aide de données synthétiques (fantôme de Shepp-Logan) et d'une image ultrasonore in vivo en mode B, sur la base de plusieurs critères quantitatifs. Dans le cas où la réponse impulsionnelle spatiale du système est mal connue, les résultats démontrent une robustesse accrue par rapport à une méthode de déconvolution classique (non aveugle)

An overview of ground-penetrating radar signal processing techniques for road inspections

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) was firstly used in traffic infrastructure surveys during the first half of the Seventies for testing in tunnel applications. From that time onwards, such non-destructive testing (NDT) technique has found exactly in the field of road engineering one of the application areas of major interest for its capability in performing accurate continuous profiles of pavement layers and detecting major causes of structural failure at traffic speed. This work provides an overview on the main signal processing techniques employed in road engineering, and theoretical insights and instructions on the proper use of the processing in relation to the quality of the data acquired and the purposes of the surveys

Resolution enhancement of 2D controlled-source electromagnetic images by use of point-spread function inversion

The marine controlled-source electromagnetic technique is employed both in large-scale geophysical applications as well as within the exploration of hydrocarbons and gas hydrates. Because of the diffusive character of the EM field, only very low frequencies are used, leading to inversion results with low resolution. In this paper, we calculated the resolution matrix associated with the inversion and derived the corresponding point-spread functions. The PSFs provided information about how much the actual inversion was blurred. Using a space-varying deconvolution can thus further improve the inversion result. The actual deblurring was carried out using the nonnegative flexible conjugate gradient least-squares (NN-FCGLS) algorithm, which is a fast iterative restoration technique. To attain completeness, we also introduced the results obtained using a blind deconvolution algorithm based on the maximum likelihood estimation with unknown PSFs. The potential of the proposed approach has been demonstrated using both complex synthetic data and field data acquired at the Wisting oil field in the Barents Sea. In both cases, the resolution of the final inversion result was improved and showed greater agreement with the known target area

Blind Image Deblurring Driven by Nonlinear Processing in the Edge Domain

This work addresses the problem of blind image deblurring, that is, of recovering an original image observed through one or more unknown linear channels and corrupted by additive noise. We resort to an iterative algorithm, belonging to the class of Bussgang algorithms, based on alternating a linear and a nonlinear image estimation stage. In detail, we investigate the design of a novel nonlinear processing acting on the Radon transform of the image edges. This choice is motivated by the fact that the Radon transform of the image edges well describes the structural image features and the effect of blur, thus simplifying the nonlinearity design. The effect of the nonlinear processing is to thin the blurred image edges and to drive the overall blind restoration algorithm to a sharp, focused image. The performance of the algorithm is assessed by experimental results pertaining to restoration of blurred natural images

Digital Signal Processing

Contains research objectives and reports on sixteen research projects.U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-75-C-0852)National Science Foundation FellowshipNational Science Foundation (Grant ENG76-24117)U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0257)U.S. Air Force (Contract F19628-80-C-0002)U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-75-C-0951)Schlumberger-Doll Research Center FellowshipHertz Foundation FellowshipGovernment of Pakistan ScholarshipU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-77-C-0196