Diverging beam transmit through limited aperture: A method to reduce ultrasound system complexity and yet obtain better image quality at higher frame rates

In this paper, a technique combining Diverging Beam with Synthetic Aperture Technique (DB-SAT) is demonstrated that utilizes only limited number of active elements yet provides better quality images at higher frame rates than possible with Conventional Focused Beamforming (CFB). The DB-SAT has been investigated in simulations and experiments on wire and tissue-mimicking phantoms, and the results are compared with routinely used CFB with Linear Array (CFB-LA). The estimated lateral resolution at the focal point was 0.41 mm and 0.34 mm for CFB-LA and DB-SAT, respectively, in simulations. These were estimated to be 0.78 mm and 0.71 mm, respectively, in experiments. Experimentally computed contrast resolution (contrast-to-noise ratio) for the cyst located at 60 mm depth were 0.50 (1.31 dB) and 0.58 (2.33 dB) for CFB-LA and DB-SAT, respectively. The frame-rate achieved by DB-SAT was 8 times and 2 times higher than that achieved by CFB-LA when transmit sub-apertures had an overlap 0% and 75%, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded from the results that DB-SAT using 8 active transmit elements and 64 active receive elements yields better quality images at higher frame-rates than those obtained using CFB-LA with 64 active elements in transmit and receive. Since there is a reduction in the number of active transmit elements in the case of DB-SAT, it leads to a reduction in the overall system complexity.