Improved Fourier Transform Based Parallel Receive Beamformation
Journal
Ultrasonic Imaging
Journal Volume
25
Journal Issue
2
Pages
73-84
Date Issued
2003-04
Author(s)
M.-L. Li
Abstract
A Fourier transform (FT)-based technique for forming parallel receive beams has been previously employed to increase the imaging frame rate in ultrasonic imaging. However, the image quality in FT-based parallel reconstruction is degraded because differences in range focusing delays are ignored and a wide transmit beam needs to be used. In this paper, an adaptive weighting technique based on a focusing-quality index is used to reduce the sidelobes of the FT-derived parallel receive beams. The focusing-quality index is derived from the spatial spectrum of the received aperture data after the receive delays have been applied. Since the spatial spectrum of the baseband aperture data is also used to approximate receive beams in FT-based parallel reconstruction, the adaptive weighting technique can be directly combined with the FT-based technique for forming parallel receive beams with only a slight increase in system complexity. Real ultrasound data are used to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed technique on both wire targets and speckle-generating objects. The results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness in reducing the sidelobes. In addition, the image background noise is suppressed. The principles, experimental results, and the extension of the proposed technique to 3D ultrasound imaging are described in this paper.
Subjects
3D ultrasound imaging; Focusing-quality index; Parallel receive beam formation
Other Subjects
Quality assurance; Ultrasonic imaging; 3D ultrasound imaging; Adaptive weighting; Background noise; Beam formation; Parallel reconstruction; Quality indices; Spatial spectra; System complexity; Focusing; article; contrast noise ratio; Fourier transformation; image quality; image reconstruction; imaging system; phantom; three dimensional imaging; transducer; ultrasound
Type
journal article