Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research (IC&SR) , IIT Madras
Technology Category/Market
Category – Biomedical Engineering
Applications –Ultrasound techniques, imaging systems,
Industry – Biomedical
Market -The global medical imaging market size is expected to grow from $40.33 billion in 2023 to $61.51 billion in 2030, at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period
Image
Problem Statement
Current approaches often involve the use of multiple transducer elements during transmission to “FOCUS” to achieve best image quality in in terms of lateral resolution in the focal region. These methods typically excite multiple elements simultaneously, resulting in increased hardware system complexity.
Hence, there is need for imaging techniques with improved lateral resolution throughout the imaging field of view without compromising the frame rate, thereby providing better image quality without increasing the complexity and cost of the imaging system
Technology
The invention discloses a method of ultrasound
imaging comprising the steps :
- Exciting a Set of Limited Number of Active Transmit Elements
- Inducing Diverging Waves
- Receiving Backscattered Echoes upon ultrasound
- Translating Electronically the Active Transmit Elements
- Reconstructing the Received Echoes in a Receive Beamformer
- Processing to Form an Image by converting the time-delayed echoes into pixel values
- Displaying the Image
The said translating step may have an overlap between two adjacent sets of active transmit elements
Also, the received echoes data may be from only partial receive aperture.
Further discloses, a system for ultrasound imaging comprising:
- Transducer Array
- A Means for Transmit Excitation
- An electronic translating means
- A receive beamformer
- A display device
Said array formed may be a single array or two dimensional array.
The diverging beam synthetic aperture ultrasound beamforming method offers a less complex ultrasound system by activating only 8 or 16 transducer elements during transmission
Key Features/Value Proposition
Technical Perspective:
- A novel technique that combines Diverging Beam with Synthetic Aperture Technique (DB-SAT)
Sparse active array without increasing system complexity.
The technique of sending diverging waves and using limited number of active elements not only reduces system complexity and cost, but also yields high frame rate involving sparse emission
User Perspective:
- Reduced complexity in terms of hardware and data handling.
- Dynamic focusing in both transmit and receive, which leads to better lateral resolution and it is maintained throughout the depth of imaging.
Questions about this Technology?
Contact for Licensing
Research Lab
Prof. Arun K. Thittai
Department of Applied Mechanics
Intellectual Property
- IITM IDF Ref. 1469
- IN201641032922
- PCT/IN2017/050427
Technology Readiness Level
TRL- 7-8
Functional Prototype ready for Pilot end user Study