Acoustic-Field Beamforming-Based Generalized Coherence Factor for Handheld Ultrasound
Journal
Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
Journal Volume
12
Journal Issue
2
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
Handheld ultrasound devices have been widely used for diagnostic applications. The use of the acoustic-field beamforming (AFB) method has been proposed for handheld ultrasound to reduce electricity consumption and avoid battery and unwanted heat issues. However, the image quality, such as the contrast ratio and contrast-to-noise-ratio, are poorer with this technique than with the conventional delay-and-sum method. To address the problems associated with the worse image quality in AFB imaging, in this paper we propose the use of an AFB-based generalized coherence factor (GCF) technique, in which the GCF weighting developed for adaptive beamforming is extended to AFB. Simulation data, experimental results, and in vivo testing verified the efficacy of our proposed AFB-based GCF technique. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
Acoustic-field beamforming; Coherence factor; Generalized coherence factor; Handheld ultrasound; Portable ultrasound; Weighting
SDGs
Type
journal article