Real-time rectilinear volumetric acquisition with a 7.5 MHz dual-layer array transducer - Data acquisition and signal processing

In previous work, we successfully developed a 7.5 MHz dual-layer array transducer for 3-D rectilinear imaging. This transducer significantly reduces the fabrication complexity and the channel count compared to fully sampled 2-D arrays, making 3-D imaging more realizable. Also, higher frequency (>; 5 MHz) 3-D imaging can provide more accurate volume measurements, detection of cystic or cancerous masses, and also assist in 3-D ultrasound guided biopsy and carotid imaging. In this paper, we present our work toward real-time 3-D imaging with this transducer, including real-time data acquisition with the Verasonics data acquisition system (VDAS), offline beamforming and display for volumetric images. The volume rate was set as 30 volume/sec with a field of view equals to 19.2 × 19.2 × 42.2 mm³. Movies were created to present a real-time display of the moving phantoms of multi-wire targets or cyst targets.