Real-time dynamic scheduling based adaptive ultrasound sequence programming for research and rapid prototyping

Over the past decade, a wide range of ultrasound-based diagnostic and therapeutic applications have been developed based on the emergence of user-friendly, open-ended ultrasound research systems. Nevertheless, previous platforms relied on static list-based scheduling, which limited the user from adjusting scan parameters in real-time. The objective of this study is to demonstrate an innovative ultrasound engine and Application Programming Interface (API) equipped with a real-time dynamic hardware scheduler that allows for flexible and adaptive sequence design. An example of real-time dynamic sequencing has been designed and implemented, where the delay time for implementing changes in imaging depth and Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) were compared between static and dynamic scheduling modes. The programming time improvements over traditional methods was 7576% for the changing the image depth and 4975% for changing the PRF.