A Novel Scheme for Suppressing Velocity Ambiguity in Narrowband Blood Flow Velocity Estimation

Color flow imaging plays a major role in the diagnosis of many vascular diseases, especially cardiovascular disease. A novel scheme is proposed to suppress velocity ambiguity induced by the narrowband estimators based on the two-dimensional correlation function model by incorporating with the wideband velocity estimation techniques. The basic idea is that the velocity is first estimated by narrowband estimator based on the two-dimensional correlation function model, and then a group of velocity candidates are formed. From these candidates, the wideband estimators search the true velocity. This scheme is tested by a two-dimensional correlation estimator incorporating with the butterfly search estimation method. Simulation results have shown that this scheme is an effective tool to suppress velocity ambiguity