A novel phase aberration correction technique based on local target motion

Inhomogeneity in acoustic velocity in tissue can introduce phase errors to diagnostic ultrasonic imaging systems and therefore degrade image quality. A novel technique for phase correction, based on on the mean difference of specific brightness, that employs echoes from moving targets as a quality factor is described. The authors present the fundamental statistics of the mean-speckle-brightness-based quality factors, which are concerned only with diffuse stationary targets, and the mean difference of speckle-brightness-based quality factors. A comparison of the two types of quality factors is also included. The results show that the difference-based quality factors are viable for phase corrections when a moving target is present in the field of view. A theoretical consideration indicates that the signal-to-noise ratio of the difference-based factors is worse than that of the mean-speckle-brightness-based factors with or without the presence of system noise