Spatial response identification enables robust experimental ultrasound computed tomography
File(s)2103.10722v2.pdf (5.18 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Ultrasound computed tomography techniques have the potential to provide clinicians with 3-D, quantitative and high-resolution information of both soft and hard tissues such as the breast or the adult human brain. Their practical application requires accurate modeling of the acquisition setup: the spatial location, orientation, and impulse response (IR) of each ultrasound transducer. However, the existing calibration methods fail to accurately characterize these transducers unless their size can be considered negligible when compared with the dominant wavelength, which reduces signal-to-noise ratios below usable levels in the presence of high-contrast tissues such as the skull. In this article, we introduce a methodology that can simultaneously estimate the location, orientation, and IR of the ultrasound transducers in a single calibration. We do this by extending spatial response identification (SRI), an algorithm that we have recently proposed to estimate transducer IRs. Our proposed methodology replaces the transducers in the acquisition device with a surrogate model whose effective response matches the experimental data by fitting a numerical model of wave propagation. This results in a flexible and robust calibration procedure that can accurately predict the behavior of the ultrasound acquisition device without ever having to know where the real transducers are or their individual IR. Experimental results using a ring acquisition system show that SRI produces calibrations of significantly higher quality than standard methodologies across all transducers, both in transmission and in reception. Experimental full-waveform inversion (FWI) reconstructions of a tissue-mimicking phantom demonstrate that SRI generates more accurate reconstructions than those produced with standard calibration techniques.
Date Issued
2022-01-01
Date Acceptance
2021-08-01
Citation
IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, 2022, 69 (1), pp.27-37
ISSN
0885-3010
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Start Page
27
End Page
37
Journal / Book Title
IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control
Volume
69
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2021 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000736741000006&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Acoustics
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Engineering
Transducers
Calibration
Ultrasonic imaging
Surface waves
Standards
Surface reconstruction
full-waveform inversion (FWI)
numerical models
ultrasonic transducers
ultrasound computed tomography
MEDICAL ULTRASOUND
ACOUSTIC HOLOGRAPHY
Publication Status
Published