Real Time Fast Ultrasound Imaging Technology and Possible Applications

In this work, a novel hardware architecture for fast ultrasound imaging based on FPGA devices is proposed. A key difference over other approaches is the unlimited scalability in terms of active channels without performance losses. Acquisition and processing tasks share the same hardware, eliminating communication bottlenecks with smaller size and power losses. These features make this system suitable to implement the most demanding imaging applications, like 3D Phased Array, Total Focusing Method, Vector Doppler, Image Compounding, High Speed Part Scanning and advanced elastographic techniques. A single medium sized FPGA allows beamforming up to 200 scan lines simultaneously, which is enough to perform most of the above mentioned applications in strict real time.