Nonlinear Harmonic Distortion of Complementary Golay Codes

Recent advances in electronics miniaturization have led to the development of low-power, low-cost, point-of-care ultrasound scanners. Low-cost systems employing simple bi-level pulse generation devices need only utilize binary phase modulated coded excitations to significantly improve sensitivity; however the performance of complementary codes in the presence of nonlinear harmonic distortion has not been thoroughly investigated. Through simulation, it was found that nonlinear propagation media with little attenuative properties can significantly deteriorate the Peak Sidelobe Level (PSL) performance of complementary Golay coded pulse compression, resulting in PSL levels of -62 dB using nonlinear acoustics theory contrasted with -198 dB in the linear case. Simulations of 96 complementary pairs revealed that some pairs are more robust to sidelobe degradation from nonlinear harmonic distortion than others, up to a maximum PSL difference of 17 dB between the best and worst performing codes. It is recommended that users consider the effects of nonlinear harmonic distortion when implementing binary phase modulated complementary Golay coded excitations.</p

Coded Ultrasound for Blood Flow Estimation Using Subband Processing

This paper investigates the use of coded excitation for blood flow estimation in medical ultrasound. Traditional autocorrelation estimators use narrow-band excitation signals to provide sufficient signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) and velocity estimation performance. In this paper, broadband coded signals are used to increase SNR, followed by subband processing. The received broadband signal is filtered using a set of narrow-band filters. Estimating the velocity in each of the bands and averaging the results yields better performance compared with what would be possible when transmitting a narrow-band pulse directly. Also, the spatial resolution of the narrow-band pulse would be too poor for brightness-mode (B-mode) imaging, and additional transmissions would be required to update the B-mode image. For the described approach in the paper, there is no need for additional transmissions, because the excitation signal is broadband and has good spatial resolution after pulse compression. This means that time can be saved by using the same data for B-mode imaging and blood flow estimation. Two different coding schemes are used in this paper, Barker codes and Golay codes. The performance of the codes for velocity estimation is compared with a conventional approach transmitting a narrow-band pulse. The study was carried out using an experimental ultrasound scanner and a commercial linear array 7 MHz transducer. A circulating flow rig was scanned with a beam-to-flow angle of 60°. The flow in the rig was laminar and had a parabolic flow-profile with a peak velocity of 0.09 m/s. The mean relative standard deviation of the velocity estimate using the reference method with an 8-cycle excitation pulse at 7 MHz was 0.544% compared with the peak velocity in the rig. Two Barker codes were tested with a length of 5 and 13 bits, respectively. The corresponding mean relative standard deviations were 0.367% and 0.310%, respectively. For the Golay coded experiment, two 8-bit codes were used, and the mean relative standard deviation was 0.335%

High power visible light emitting diodes as pulsed excitation sources for biomedical photoacoustics

The use of visible light emitting diodes (LEDs) as an alternative to Q-switched lasers conventionally used as photoacoustic excitation sources has been explored. In common with laser diodes, LEDs offer the advantages of compact size, low cost and high efficiency. However, laser diodes suitable for pulsed photoacoustic generation are typically available only at wavelengths greater than 750nm. By contrast, LEDs are readily available at visible wavelengths below 650nm where haemoglobin absorption is significantly higher, offering the prospect of increased SNR for superficial vascular imaging applications. To demonstrate feasibility, a range of low cost commercially available LEDs operating in the 420-620nm spectral range were used to generate photoacoustic signals in physiologically realistic vascular phantoms. Overdriving with 200ns pulses and operating at a low duty cycle enabled pulse energies up to 10µJ to be obtained with a 620nm LED. By operating at a high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) in order to rapidly signal average over many acquisitions, this pulse energy was sufficient to generate detectable signals in a blood filled tube immersed in an Intralipid suspension (µs' = 1mm(-1)) at a depth of 15mm using widefield illumination. In addition, a compact four-wavelength LED (460nm, 530nm, 590nm, 620nm) in conjunction with a coded excitation scheme was used to illustrate rapid multiwavelength signal acquisition for spectroscopic applications. This study demonstrates that LEDs could find application as inexpensive and compact multiwavelength photoacoustic excitation sources for imaging superficial vascular anatomy. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI

Coded Signals for High Frequency Ultrasound Imaging

Degeneration of articular cartilage is known as a serious and painful knee disease seriously affecting people in all ages. The disease also marks the presence of osteoarthritis which is a complex musculoskeletal disorder. A successful assessment of the degeneration status is of great importance for estimating osteoarthritis progression, and thereby beneficial for implementing clinical treatments. Ultrasound has played a vital role in imaging the articular cartilage since it is capable of providing distinct information of important cartilage structures. However, various types of noise in ultrasound signals (e.g. clutter noise) are known to limit the quality of ultrasound images, especially at high frequencies where wave attenuation becomes severe. The possibility for improving the signal to noise ratio (SNR) by using coded signals is therefore the motivation behind this thesis, with the main objective is to investigate suitable codes and compression methods for cartilage imaging. The main focus of this thesis has been put on coded ultrasound signals and related signal processing methods. Transducers made from two different piezoelectric materials (PZT and PVDF) are used to image a thick cartilage sample. For each transducer, three different waveforms (Ricker wavelet, Gaussian chirped, and a 13-bit Barker) are used to excite the ultrasonic transducers. Two different wave compression methods (Matched filtering and Wiener filtering) are also explored to decode the signals received by transducers. Ahead of processing the received signals, a time calibration was used to compensate for sample tilting, yielding an improved precision in the phase/time delay. A maximum method and a center of mass method were used for calibration. The results from the experimental work show that both Chirp coded signals and Barker coded signals work well in improving the SNR, and that both transducers are able to produce high quality images of the cartilage sample. For the situations using coded excitation signals, however, the PZT transducer has high requirement for excitation repetition frequency because of its built-in delay line. Different time calibration methods have their own applicable conditions. Matched filter and Wiener filter both perform well for decoding, but the “noise” parameter in the Wiener filter has to be adjusted carefully to produce reasonable results

Harmonic chirp imaging method for ultrasound contrast agent

Coded excitation is currently used in medical ultrasound to increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and penetration depth. We propose a chirp excitation method\ud for contrast agents using the second harmonic component of the response. This method is based on a compression filter that selectively compresses and extracts the second harmonic component from the received echo signal. Simulations have shown a clear increase in response for chirp excitation\ud over pulse excitation with the same peak amplitude. This was confirmed by two-dimensional (2-D) optical observations of bubble response with a fast framing camera. To evaluate the harmonic compression method, we applied it to\ud simulated bubble echoes, to measured propagation harmonics, and to B-mode scans of a flow phantom and compared it to regular pulse excitation imaging. An increase of approximately 10 dB in SNR was found for chirp excitation. The\ud compression method was found to perform well in terms of resolution. Axial resolution was in all cases within 10% of the axial resolution from pulse excitation. Range side-lobe levels were 30 dB below the main lobe for the simulated bubble echoes and measured propagation harmonics. However,\ud side-lobes were visible in the B-mode contrast images

Using Coded Excitation to maintain Signal to Noise for FMC+TFM on Attenuating Materials

Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Evaluation using Full Matrix Capture (FMC) and Total Focusing Method (TFM) is used for high resolution imaging as every pixel is in optimal focus. FMC excites one element in turn, so operates with lower transmitted energy compared to phased array beamforming. The energy at a reflector is further reduced by the broad directivity pattern of the single element. The large number of Tx/Rx A-scans that contribute to each pixel recover the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in the final TFM image. Maintaining this in the presence of attenuating materials is a challenge because relevant information in each A-scan signal is buried in the thermal noise, and the TFM process assumes no quantization effects in the Analogue-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) in each receiver. In-process inspection during Additive Manufacturing (AM) requires ultrasonic array sensors that can tolerate high temperatures, scan over rough surfaces and leave no residue. Dry-coupled wheel probes are a solution, but the tire rubbers are often highly attenuating, causing a problem for FMC+TFM needed to adapt the focus through the rough surface. Common approaches to maintain the SNR are to drop the frequency or to average over multiple transmissions, but these compromise resolution and acquisition rate respectively. In this paper, the application of coded excitation to maintain the SNR in the presence of high signal attenuation is explored

MOSAIC: A Scalable reconfigurable 2D array system for NDT

This paper documents the development of a scalable 2D array system, or Mosaic that can be targeted at a wide range of NDT applications by way of a reconfigurable tile that can be tessellated to form arrays of any size and shape. Close coupling permits utilization of excitation voltages as low as +/-3.3V with insertion loss of 48dB on reflection from an aluminum back wall at 73mm achieved using 2D arrays without decoding