Jiaying Xiao1, Mengdi Xiao1, Bo Wang2, Zhongchao Huang1, Kuan Peng1. 1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China. 2. College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Simulation of the emitted acoustic field is crucial to the design of ultrasound transducers. The method based on the spatial impulse response (SIR) and aperture discretization provides a powerful tool to study the acoustic field emitted by a transducer with complex aperture geometry and sophisticated apodization/excitation pattern. METHODS: In this work, a new method based on the dynamically refined sub-elements (SE) is employed to discrete the aperture and generate the SIR. Then, these SIRs are convoluted with the excitation pulse to get the acoustic pressure (AP) signal. When calculating the SIR with this method, the slowly changed time flight from a SE to a field point (FP) is approximated with a step function, and the fast changed length of intersection between a SE and a spherical wave centered at a FP is accurately estimated with the areas of the sub-parts (SP) which are given by the dynamically refined SE. RESULTS: Simulations of the acoustic field created by a focusing transducer array and a hollow structured point focusing transducer indicate that the proposed new method can give similar data accuracy with a sampling frequency 16 times lower than the conventional time tracing SE (TTSE) based method. The computational cost is also reduced by nearly one order of magnitude. CONCLUSIONS: A new method is proposed to simulate the acoustic field emitted by transducers with complex geometrical structure and sophisticated apodization/excitation patterns. The required sampling frequency with the new algorithm is greatly reduced compared to that of the conventional TTSE-based method; thus, the efficiency of the acoustic field calculation is improved significantly.
BACKGROUND: Simulation of the emitted acoustic field is crucial to the design of ultrasound transducers. The method based on the spatial impulse response (SIR) and aperture discretization provides a powerful tool to study the acoustic field emitted by a transducer with complex aperture geometry and sophisticated apodization/excitation pattern. METHODS: In this work, a new method based on the dynamically refined sub-elements (SE) is employed to discrete the aperture and generate the SIR. Then, these SIRs are convoluted with the excitation pulse to get the acoustic pressure (AP) signal. When calculating the SIR with this method, the slowly changed time flight from a SE to a field point (FP) is approximated with a step function, and the fast changed length of intersection between a SE and a spherical wave centered at a FP is accurately estimated with the areas of the sub-parts (SP) which are given by the dynamically refined SE. RESULTS: Simulations of the acoustic field created by a focusing transducer array and a hollow structured point focusing transducer indicate that the proposed new method can give similar data accuracy with a sampling frequency 16 times lower than the conventional time tracing SE (TTSE) based method. The computational cost is also reduced by nearly one order of magnitude. CONCLUSIONS: A new method is proposed to simulate the acoustic field emitted by transducers with complex geometrical structure and sophisticated apodization/excitation patterns. The required sampling frequency with the new algorithm is greatly reduced compared to that of the conventional TTSE-based method; thus, the efficiency of the acoustic field calculation is improved significantly.
Authors: Luis A Aguilar; Richard S C Cobbold; David A Steinman Journal: IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control Date: 2013-11 Impact factor: 2.725
Authors: Gianmarco F Pinton; Jeremy Dahl; Stephen Rosenzweig; Gregg E Trahey Journal: IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control Date: 2009-03 Impact factor: 2.725
Authors: Marcello H Nogueira-Barbosa; Hermes Arytto Salles Kamimura; Guilherme Braz; Paulo M Agnollitto; Antonio Adilton Oliveira Carneiro Journal: Quant Imaging Med Surg Date: 2017-10