DocumentCode :
62397
Title :
Fast and mechanistic ultrasound simulation using a point source/receiver approach
Author :
Aguilar, Luis ; Cobbold, Richard S. C. ; Steinman, David
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. & Ind. Eng., Univ. of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Volume :
60
Issue :
11
fYear :
2013
fDate :
Nov-13
Firstpage :
2335
Lastpage :
2346
Abstract :
Ultrasound simulators relying on impulse response methods are faithful to the mechanisms of image formation from the underlying radio-frequency signals, but as a result tend to be relatively slow. At the other extreme are fast techniques, often motivated by the development of teaching and training simulators, which approximate the image formation processes rather than rigorously modeling the underlying physics. Previously, we have shown that transmit field distributions from linear phased-array transducers can be modeled accurately and efficiently using arrays of point sources. This approach is now extended to point sources/receivers, which allows for simulation of the transmit/receive fields, and thus the physical processes underlying ultrasound image formation. Field distributions and fast-time signals are shown to compare favorably to those obtained using the impulse response method. Doppler spectrogram and B-mode images derived from these signals also show excellent agreement with the results obtained using the impulse response method, but with a computational savings of nearly two orders of magnitude. Because of the inherent simplicity of our Fast and Mechanistic Ultrasound Simulation (FAMUS) approach, CPU parallelization was readily achieved, and further orders of magnitude speed improvements, and thus real-time performance, can be anticipated via extension to modern graphics processing units.
Keywords :
Doppler effect; acoustic radiators; acoustic receivers; acoustic signal processing; graphics processing units; transient response; ultrasonic transducer arrays; ultrasonic transmission; B-mode images; CPU parallelization; Doppler spectrogram; FAMUS approach; fast ultrasound simulation; fast-time signals; field distributions; impulse response method; impulse response methods; linear phased-array transducers; magnitude speed; mechanistic ultrasound simulation; modern graphics processing units; point source arrays; point source-receiver approach; real-time performance; rigorously modeling; teaching simulators; training simulators; transmit field distributions; transmit-receive fields; ultrasound image formation; underlying physics; underlying radio-frequency signals; Approximation methods; Phased arrays; Real-time systems; Receivers; Training; Transducers; Ultrasonic imaging; Algorithms; Computer Simulation; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Phantoms, Imaging; Transducers; Ultrasonography;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0885-3010
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TUFFC.2013.6644737
Filename :
6644737
Link To Document :
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