High frame rate ultrasonic imaging system based on the angular spectrum principle

A kind of high frame rate (HFR) 2D and 3D imaging method was developed by Jianyu Lu in 1997. Because only one transmission is required to construct a frame of image, this method can reach an ultra high frame rate (about 3750 volumes or frames per second for biological soft tissues at a depth of 200 mm). In this paper, a new HFR method is presented in the view of angular spectrum. Compared with conventional dynamic focusing method which uses delay-and-sum processing, and Lu's HFR method which uses a kind of special weighting on the received signal, the new method only uses the Fourier transform algorithm to construct image. So the system implementation of the method could be greatly simplified. During constructing image, several array beams with different parameter are used as transmitted signal, and the spectrum of a frame of image is obtained by synthesizing the image spectrums related to different transmit event. The simulation result shows that the solution not only suppresses the sidelobe of system greatly and obtains the high quality image, but also still keeps high frame rate to some extent.     

一种基于非衍射波的高帧率超声成像发射系统的研究

基于非衍射波的高帧率(high frame rate,HFR)超声成像的前提是发射阵列波(array beam)声场,但由于阵列波的正弦函数特征使对超声发射信号加权处理变得比较困难,导致了发射系统复杂.针对这一问题,本文提出一种有效的解决方案.基于傅里叶变换理论,从方波的能量成分主要集中在基波这一特性出发,采用单值方波对超声传感器发射信号进行加权,用一个功率信号源和简单的电子开关网络实现了HFR系统中所需要的发射电路.实验表明,这种方案对HFR的成像质量几乎没有什么影响,但大大简化了HFR成像系统,这为HFR超声成像方法在现有B超声系统上的实现提供了一个可行的方法.     

Extract echo signal in HFR imaging system

Ultrasonic high frame rate (HFR) method was developed by Jianyu Lu in 1997. This method constructs images in frequency domain; the spectrum of space domain objects is calculated based on the spectrum of echo signals, and the image is obtained by using IFFT (inverse fast Fourier transform). Because of this imaging process, the echo signal from each individual scatterer cannot be obtained directly. In this paper, we present a method, which can pick up the echo signal of every scatterer in HFR imaging method. Computer simulation has been performed to verify our method. With the new method we have developed, many other imaging methods, such as Doppler blood flow and elastic imaging, can be easily combined with HFR method to give more information of the imaged objects.     

基于CCD电极直接驱动控制的双脉冲发光图像高速曝光技术原理研究

电荷耦合器件(CCD)是一类高性能的光电成像器件,具有成像阵列大、图像质量好的特点。但由于正常工作驱动时序复杂,工作帧频一般较低,无法满足较高成像帧频的要求。针对一种双脉冲发光图像的高速高分辨高质量成像要求,根据CCD信号电荷收集及转移的电极驱动特性,选择合适的CCD类型,以电荷转移时序为时间分隔界限,设计了一种电极直接进行控制的时序,实现了两个光脉冲图像的分离积分及信号转移、读出等,完成了双脉冲发光图像的等效高帧频曝光的原理验证,在保持CCD原有高成像质量的情况下获得了μs级间隔的两幅图像可分辨的能力,并实现了一种二分幅相机系统。     

Space-time encoding for high frame rate ultrasound imaging

Frame rate in ultrasound imaging can be dramatically increased by using sparse synthetic transmit aperture (STA) beamforming techniques. The two main drawbacks of the method are the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the motion artifacts, that degrade the image quality. In this paper we propose a spatio-temporal encoding for STA imaging based on simultaneous transmission of two quasi-orthogonal tapered linear FM signals. The excitation signals are an up- and a down-chirp with frequency division and a cross-talk of -55 dB. The received signals are first cross-correlated with the appropriate code, then spatially decoded and finally beamformed for each code, yielding two images per emission. The spatial encoding is a Hadamard encoding previously suggested by Chiao et al. [in: Proceedings of the IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, 1997, p. 1679]. The Hadamard matrix has half the size of the transmit element groups, due to the orthogonality of the temporal encoded wavefronts. Thus, with this method, the frame rate is doubled compared to previous systems. Another advantage is the utilization of temporal codes which are more robust to attenuation. With the proposed technique it is possible to obtain images dynamically focused in both transmit and receive with only two firings. This reduces the problem of motion artifacts. The method has been tested with extensive simulations using Field II. Resolution and SNR are compared with uncoded STA imaging and conventional phased-array imaging. The range resolution remains the same for coded STA imaging with four emissions and is slightly degraded for STA imaging with two emissions due to the -55 dB cross-talk between the signals. The additional proposed temporal encoding adds more than 15 dB on the SNR gain, yielding a SNR at the same order as in phased-array imaging.     

基于FPGA的红外焦平面成像条纹噪声逐帧抑制算法的研究

红外焦平面阵列是当今红外成像技术发展的主要方向,随着器件工艺的进步,红外焦平面阵列探测器有了长足的发展,然而红外图像普遍具有信噪比低的缺点,这大大限制了红外焦平面的应用。与固定图案噪声（FPN）相比,随机噪声的最大特点是每帧均不同,因此去除该类型噪声的算法必须在一帧之内完成。提出了一种新型的单帧去除此类条纹噪声的算法并加以硬件实现,在单帧内设置适合的校正参数和阈值,达到在单帧图像内有效去除条纹噪声的目的。通过算法处理前后的图像对比以及客观的MSE、PSNR测试数据对比,证明了该算法能够有效地改善焦平面器件成像质量。     

牙本质龋的太赫兹成像研究

牙本质龋与牙髓感染状态及活力密切相关,龋损深度则决定临床治疗方案,但目前牙本质龋的检测及诊断方法如：视诊、探诊容易受到主观因素影响;X线辅助检查对龋病灵敏度低等,都有一定缺陷,可靠性及有效性仍有待提高。太赫兹时域光谱可以利用不同的物理参数成像,在牙本质龋在体、无损检测方面有较大应用潜力。为探索牙本质龋损的太赫兹光谱图像开展本研究。实验通过搭建透射、反射式扫描太赫兹平台,对15枚含牙本质龋离体牙磨片扫描,通过数据二维重构,获得了不同参数的太赫兹透射和反射图像,再将太赫兹图像与实验室研究龋病的光镜图像与X线图像对比、拟合并进行光镜下、太赫兹图像下龋损面积评价。结果表明：太赫兹图像与光镜图像相符,较X线图像灵敏度更高。反射模式下由于太赫兹反射信号较弱,使得样品厚度,表面粗糙程度以及系统噪声对实验结果影响较大,图像仅能辨识样本轮廓,不能用于区分牙釉质、牙本质及牙本质龋。透射模式下的频域1.4 THz相位差成像、时域信号最小值对应的时间成像都能区分牙釉质,牙本质和牙本质龋,可以用来鉴别三者,其中最小值对应的时间成像效果最佳。对光镜下测得牙本质龋损面积与太赫兹透射模式下的时域信号最小值对应的时间图像测得的牙本质龋损面积进行配对样本Wilcoxon符号秩和检验,结果（p＞0.05）尚不能认为两种方法测得的牙本质龋损面积有差别,两种方法测量的差值源于系统误差。故可以认为通过太赫兹透射模式下的时域信号最小值对应的时间图像获得牙本质龋损范围、大小等诊断信息。研究表明太赫兹成像技术可以为牙本质龋的早期诊断提供更为精确有效且无电离辐射的诊断方法,为临床数字化、微创去龋提供一定形态学依据。     

Quantitative assessment of effects of phase aberration and noise on high-frame-rate imaging

The goal of this paper is to quantitatively study effects of phase aberration and noise on high-frame-rate (HFR) imaging using a set of traditional and new parameters. These parameters include the traditional −6-dB lateral resolution, and new parameters called the energy ratio (ER) and the sidelobe ratio (SR). ER is the ratio between the total energy of sidelobe and the total energy of mainlobe of a point spread function (PSF) of an imaging system. SR is the ratio between the peak value of the sidelobe and the peak value of the mainlobe of the PSF. In the paper, both simulation and experiment are conducted for a quantitative assessment and comparison of the effects of phase aberration and noise on the HFR and the conventional delay-and-sum (D&S) imaging methods with the set of parameters. In the HFR imaging method, steered plane waves (SPWs) and limited-diffraction beams (LDBs) are used in transmission, and received signals are processed with the Fast Fourier Transform to reconstruct images. In the D&S imaging method, beams focused at a fixed depth are used in transmission and dynamically focused beams are used in reception for image reconstruction.The simulation results show that the average differences between the −6-dB lateral beam widths of the HFR imaging and the D&S imaging methods are −0.1337 mm for SPW and −0.1481 mm for LDB, which means that the HFR imaging method has a higher lateral image resolution than the D&S imaging method since the values are negative. In experiments, the average differences are also negative, i.e., −0.2804 mm for SPW and −0.3365 mm for LDB. The results for the changes of ER and SR between the HFR and the D&S imaging methods have negative values, too. After introducing phase aberration and noise, both simulations and experiments show that the HFR imaging method has also less change in the −6-dB lateral resolution, ER, and SR as compared to the conventional D&S imaging method. This means that the HFR imaging method is less sensitive to the phase aberration and noise.Based on the study of the new parameters on the HFR and the D&S imaging methods, it is expected that the new parameters can also be applied to assess quality of other imaging methods.     

Spectrally-Presaturated Modulation (SPM): An efficient fat suppression technique for STEAM-based cardiac imaging sequences

Stimulated-echo acquisition mode (STEAM) is a key pulse sequences in MRI in general, and in cardiac imaging in particular. Fat suppression is an important feature in cardiac imaging to improve visualization and eliminate off-resonance and chemical-shift artifacts. Nevertheless, fat suppression comes at the expense of reduced temporal resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The purpose of this study is to develop an efficient fat suppression method (Spectrally-Presaturated Modulation) for STEAM-based sequences to enable imaging with high temporal-resolution, high SNR, and no increase in scan time. The developed method is based on saturating the fat magnetization prior to applying STEAM modulation; therefore, only the water-content of the tissues is modulated by the sequence, resulting in fat-suppressed images without the need to run the fat suppression module during image acquisition. The potential significance of the proposed method is presented in two STEAM-based cardiac MRI applications: complementary spatial-modulation of magnetization (CSPAMM), and black-blood cine imaging. Phantom and in vivo experiments are conducted to evaluate the developed technique and compare it to the commonly implemented chemical-shift selective (CHESS) and water-excitation using spectral-spatial selective pulses (SSSP) fat suppression techniques. The results from the phantom and in vivo experiments show superior performance of the proposed method compared to the CHESS and SSSP techniques in terms of temporal resolution and SNR. In conclusion, the developed fat suppression technique results in enhanced image quality of STEAM-based images, especially in cardiac applications, where high temporal-resolution is imperative for accurate measurement of functional parameters and improved performance of image analysis algorithms.     

强杂波背景红外弱小目标检测算法

针对强杂波背景远距离红外弱小信号目标的特点,提出了一种基于自适应滤波的红外弱小信号检测方法。算法首先对图像进行消噪声处理,其次运用自适应滤波方式消除背景增强目标信号,最后进行基于点源目标(试验采集)成像信号特性的判决法则删除虚假目标,算法有效解决了光电探测设备高检测概率与低虚警率的矛盾。实验结果表明:该方法能够在单帧图像上有效提取出小区域信噪比为4的弱小信号目标,检测概率不低于0.75,虚警率不高于1次/100帧。     

空变环形编码孔成像模拟与图像复原

环形编码孔成像技术具有高的探测效率和信噪比,是一种解决低强度脉冲辐射源成像较好的技术。基于该技术,利用Geant4建立环形编码孔中子成像的模拟过程,获取6个不同位置的点扩散函数(PSF)和编码图像。根据空间移变图像分块原理,将图像分成矩形和圆形分块,每一块图像用RL迭代法复原,去除边界明显畸变的像素,这些像素强度由相邻的图像块像素到边界距离的加权系数叠加而成。模拟结果表明,该方法提高了图像复原效果,能够更好地诊断射线区域的空间分布情况。     

Novel ultrasonic real-time scanner featuring servo controlled transducers displaying a sector image

This paper describes a new real-time servo controlled sector scanner that produces high resolution images and has functionally programmable features similar to phased array systems, but possesses the simplicity of design and low cost best achievable in a mechanical sector scanner. The unique feature is the transducer head which contains a single moving part--the transducer--enclosed within a light-weight, hand held, and vibration free case. The frame rate, sector width, stop action angle, are all operator programmable. The frame rate can be varied from 12 to 30 frames s-1 and the sector width from 0 degrees to 60 degrees. Conversion from sector to time motion (T/M) modes are instant and two options are available, a freeze position high density T/M and a low density T/M obtainable simultaneously during sector visualization. Unusual electronic features are: automatic gain control, electronic recording of images on video tape in rf format, and ability to post-process images during video playback to extract T/M display and to change time gain control (tgc) and image size.     

Signal-to-noise ratio evaluation of a CCD camera

A fast signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) digital test method for a CCD camera is presented in this study. The proposed method employs the conventionally used differential operations of two sequential images to determine the noise. However, the technique focuses on two features to improve the SNR evaluation: the noise is separated from the differential image by a specially designed digital high-pass filter that does not affect the noise intensity; and the additional quantization noise introduced into the digital image by the frame grabber is corrected for in the final calculation. The method can produce an objective measurement that offers high repeatability. The results obtained are consistent with those produced by industry standard instruments.     

移位相加法日间探测低信噪比恒星

为实现白天红外光电测量系统对低信噪比恒星的质心及能量高精度计算,本文给出一种高效的方法。首先,分析了红外光学系统白天恒星的成像特征。其次,先对采集的图像序列进行预处理操作得到预处理图像。接着对预处理图像序列执行叠加求均值和下采样操作得到下采样图像。在下采样图像中以亮度为特征求取恒星的疑似位置后,在预处理图像序列上建立与疑似位置相对应的目标区域,在目标区域内顺序求取质心序列。对目标区域的图像序列以质心偏移为基础进行移位相加后获取目标图像。在目标图像上以信噪比为判据完成恒星提取,以及质心和能量的计算。再次,分析指出此方法能增强目标信噪比的原理,并给出其适用范围以及相关参数的确定方法。最后通过实验表明,采用移位相加法可增强目标的信噪比,并提高提取正确率;且对于SNR不大于4.8的恒星可将其质心和能量计算精度平均提高0.06 pixel和28.5%。移位相加法对低信噪比的恒星可较为精确地计算其质心和能量。     

Imaging inert fluorinated gases in cracks: perhaps in David's ankles

Inspired by the challenge of determining the nature of cracks on the ankles of Michelangelo's statue David, we discovered that one can image SF(6) gas in cracks in marble samples with alacrity. The imaging method produces images of gas with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 100-250, which is very high for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in general, let alone for an image of a gas at thermal equilibrium polarization. To put this unusual SNR in better perspective, we imaged SF(6) in a crack in a marble sample and imaged the lung tissue of a live rat (a more familiar variety of sample to many MRI scientists) using the same pulse sequence, the same size coils and the same MRI system. In both cases, we try to image subvoxel thin sheets of material that should appear bright against a darker background. By choosing imaging parameters appropriate for the different relaxation properties of SF(6) gas versus lung tissue and by choosing voxel sizes appropriate for the different goals of detecting subvoxel cracks on marble versus resolving subvoxel thin sheets of tissue, the SNR for voxels full of material was 220 and 14 for marble and lung, respectively. A major factor is that we chose large voxels to optimize SNR for detecting small cracks and we chose small voxels for resolving lung features at the expense of SNR. Imaging physics will cooperate to provide detection of small cracks on marble, but David's size poses a challenge for magnet designers. For the modest goal of imaging cracks in the left ankle, we desire a magnet with an approximately 32-cm gap and a flux density of approximately 0.36 T that weighs <500 kg.     

两种高速CMOS图像传感器的应用与测试

采用MI-MV13和LUPA-1300-2两种不同厂家型号的高速CMOS图像传感器,设计了分辨率为1 280×1 024的300～500 frame/s高速数字工业相机,并在实验室条件下对设计相机进行了关键性能指标对比测试,得到了光谱响应及量子效率、增益、动态范围、暗电流、读出噪声、光电响应非均匀性等测试结果。测试分析显示,LUPA-1300-2的峰值量子效率为50%,比MI-MV13的峰值量子效率高12%,与厂家的参考指标基本一致。测试结果证明：该测试方法正确,对两种高速CMOS图像传感器的关键性能指标的测试客观可信,所设计的高速CMOS摄像机的性能基本满足高帧频摄像的要求。     

SNR-optimized myocardial perfusion imaging using parallel acquisition for effective density-weighted saturation recovery imaging

The concept of density-weighted imaging and parallel acquisition for effective density-weighted (PLANED) imaging was transferred to saturation recovery (SR) sequences, in order to increase the SNR in first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging. Filtering in combination with density-weighted imaging allows SNR-optimized data weighting and the free choice of the corresponding spatial response function (SRF) simultaneously. This method was evaluated in simulations and applied successfully to phantom and in vivo first-pass myocardial perfusion studies. Unfiltered, Cartesian sampled images were compared to images acquired with SR-PLANED, which has been adjusted to result in an identical SRF as the Cartesian imaging. SNR-optimized SR-PLANED imaging improved the SNR up to 15% without changing acquisition time, the SRF or the field of view (FOV). The presented method provides high image quality and optimized SNR for first-pass myocardial perfusion imaging.     

宽光谱超高速八分幅相机的光学系统设计

为满足数字超高速成像需求,提高相机的时间分辨率,设计了一种工作于350 nm~800 nm宽波段的八分幅相机光学系统。该系统采用光阑外置的会聚光分光结构,可同时获得同一物面的八幅相同图像,针对光学系统后截距、像方数值孔径等重要光学参数对像面照度差的影响、宽光谱成像的色差校正等问题进行了分析。在Code V中对中继镜头进行设计优化,像面大小可达26 mm,像方MTF在40 lp/mm时对比度达0.5以上,畸变小于1%,分幅后系统像面照度差在±10%以内。模拟结果表明:八分幅相机光学系统各幅图像一致性较高。     

天基激光告警系统成像特征及信噪比研究

目标成像特征和信噪比是天基激光告警系统优化设计、目标检测及攻击事件判定的重要依据.在介绍告警系统结构的基础上,分析计算了攻击激光成像光斑的情况,并进行了实验验证,讨论了系统的背景光噪声环境,计算了入瞳处的背景光辐照度,推导了系统成像信噪比公式,并得到了攻击激光成像信噪比.结果表明:攻击激光在正入射情况下的理论光斑直径约...     

The combined effect of spatial compounding and nonlinear filtering on the speckle reduction in ultrasound images

Recently, a spatial compounding ultrasound imaging method was presented that utilizes a conventional 64-element phased array transducer with two unfocused pistons, each placed at one of the sides of the phased array transducer. This method is augmented here by inclusion of nonlinear filtering of the compounded images. The combined effects of the specific spatial compounding and nonlinear filtering on speckle reduction in the generated ultrasound images are studied and evaluated in two stages: First, the image quality is studied when nonlinear filtering is used as part of the spatial compounding. The study is performed by simulations using the Field II program, by processing several B-mode images of a kidney. The second stage compares the results obtained by the simulations to those obtained by in vitro laboratory experiments. Five different compounding strategies and two nonlinear filters, Gaussian and anisotropic diffusion, are investigated and evaluated in terms of image quality parameters-contrast and signal-to-noise ratio. It is shown that the combination of "averaging+nonlinear Gaussian filtering" produces the greatest improvement of image quality. When compared to a conventional phased array imaging system, the spatial compounding method that includes the conventional 64-element phased array transducer with two unfocused pistons, and employs the "averaging+nonlinear Gaussian filtering" strategy, obtains improvement in SNR that has reached 334%. Thus, though this method necessitates a somewhat wider probe, it produces significantly improved images.