超声断层扫描数据压缩的时间窗构造及数据提取方法

介绍了一种针对三维超声断层扫描系统的数据压缩方法,该方法通过检测最早的目标反射重构目标表面位置;依据表面位置,计算目标回波信号的起止时间;以此为依据构造时间窗,标明成像算法所需数据在采样序列中存在的时间范围;最终提取有用数据,完成数据压缩。临床数据被用于算法的效果评价。结果表明,该方法可达到平均2.27的压缩率和0.21的压缩率标准差,以及2.25的数据传输加速比。较传统数据压缩方法,该方法只利用回波时域信息,可作为预压缩方法和传统方法结合使用以获得更高的压缩率。     

Improvements in azithromycin recrystallization using ultrasound for size reduction

The primary motive of the current work is to achieve smaller mean particle size with narrow size distribution that can enhance the bioavailability of azithromycin (ARZ), an essential requirement due to its poor water solubility. Recrystallization of ARZ was evaluated using cooling as well as antisolvent crystallization approaches in the presence of ultrasonic irradiation with detailed study into effect of different parameters such as ultrasonic power, time and temperature. Ultrasound assisted antisolvent crystallization at low temperatures (<10℃) yielded best size reduction up to 80% with narrower distribution and also gave better yield of the product, that too within 5 min of sonication. With scale up considerations, recirculation mode of operation was also evaluated which offered promising results for the size reduction. Images captured using optical microscope and SEM revealed a nearly uniform rod/plate-shaped geometry. Increase in amorphous nature of ARZ was confirmed based on XRD analysis. FTIR analysis showed no significant changes in the functional groups when compared to the original sample. Overall, the work demonstrated an improved reprocessing approach based on the use of ultrasound with insights into effect of operating parameters and effect of ultrasound on various characteristics.     

Comparison of the performance of different tools for fast simulation of ultrasound data

Simulation of ultrasound data is often performed for developing new ultrasound data processing techniques. The spatial impulse response method (as implemented in FieldII) has typically been used as the gold standard due to its excellent accuracy in the linear domain. When scatterer numbers become significant and when 3D volumetric data sets need to be computed, calculation time can become an issue however. In order to solve this problem, two alternative methods have recently been proposed both of which are based on the principle of convolving a set of point scatterers with a point spread function. “FUSK” operates in the frequency domain while “COLE” runs in the spatio-temporal domain. The aim of this study was to directly contrast both methodologies in terms of accuracy and processing speed using FieldII as a reference.     

Evaluation of a biological wastewater treatment system combining an OSA process with ultrasound for sludge reduction

Sludge production is an undesirable by-product of biological wastewater treatment. The oxic-settling-anaerobic (OSA) process constitutes one of the most promising techniques for reducing the sludge produced at the treatment plant without negative consequences for its overall performance. In the present study, the OSA process is applied in combination with ultrasound treatment, a lysis technique, in a lab-scale wastewater treatment plant to assess whether sludge reduction is enhanced as a result of mechanical treatment. Reported sludge reductions of 45.72% and 78.56% were obtained for the two regimes of combined treatment tested in this study during two respective stages: UO1 and UO2. During the UO1 stage, the general performance and nutrient removal improved, obtaining 47.28% TN removal versus 21.95% in the conventional stage. However, the performance of the system was seriously damaged during the UO2 stage. Increases in dehydrogenase and protease activities were observed during both stages. The advantages of the combined process are not necessarily economic, but operational, as US treatment acts as contributing factor in the OSA process, inducing mechanisms that lead to sludge reduction in the OSA process and improving performance parameters.     

Research interface on a programmable ultrasound scanner

Motivation

Commercial ultrasound machines in the past did not provide the ultrasound researchers access to raw ultrasound data. Lack of this ability has impeded evaluation and clinical testing of novel ultrasound algorithms and applications.

Objectives

Recently, we developed a flexible ultrasound back-end where all the processing for the conventional ultrasound modes, such as B, M, color flow and spectral Doppler, was performed in software. The back-end has been incorporated into a commercial ultrasound machine, the Hitachi HiVision 5500. The goal of this work is to develop an ultrasound research interface on the back-end for acquiring raw ultrasound data from the machine.

Methods

The research interface has been designed as a software module on the ultrasound back-end. To increase the amount of raw ultrasound data that can be spooled in the limited memory available on the back-end, we have developed a method that can losslessly compress the ultrasound data in real time.

Results and discussion

The raw ultrasound data could be obtained in any conventional ultrasound mode, including duplex and triplex modes. Furthermore, use of the research interface does not decrease the frame rate or otherwise affect the clinical usability of the machine. The lossless compression of the ultrasound data in real time can increase the amount of data spooled by ∼2.3 times, thus allowing more than 6 s of raw ultrasound data to be acquired in all the modes. The interface has been used not only for early testing of new ideas with in vitro data from phantoms, but also for acquiring in vivo data for fine-tuning ultrasound applications and conducting clinical studies. We present several examples of how newer ultrasound applications, such as elastography, vibration imaging and 3D imaging, have benefited from this research interface. Since the research interface is entirely implemented in software, it can be deployed on existing HiVision 5500 ultrasound machines and may be easily upgraded in the future.

Conclusions

The developed research interface can aid researchers in the rapid testing and clinical evaluation of new ultrasound algorithms and applications. Additionally, we believe that our approach would be applicable to designing research interfaces on other ultrasound machines.     

Strategies for reliable automatic onset time picking of acoustic emissions and of ultrasound signals in concrete

Determining the onset of transient signals like seismograms, acoustic emissions or ultrasound signals is very time consuming if the onset is picked manually. Therefore, different approaches exist, especially in seismology. The concepts of the most popular approaches are summarized. An own approach adapted to ultrasound signals and acoustic emissions, based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), is presented. The AIC-picker is compared to an automatic onset detection algorithm based on the Hinkley criterion and also adapted to acoustic emissions. Manual picks performed by an analyst are used as reference values. Both automatic onset detection algorithms are applied to ultrasound signals which are used to monitor the setting and hardening of concrete. They are also applied to acoustic emissions recorded during a pull-out test. The AIC-picker produces sufficient reliable results for ultrasound signals where the deviation from the manual picks varies between 2% and 4%. Concerning acoustic emissions, only 10% of the events result in a mislocation vector greater than 5mm. It can be shown that our AIC-picker is a reliable tool for automatic onset detection for ultrasound signals and acoustic emissions of varying signal to noise ratio.     

基于FPGA的智能建筑湿度检测控制系统设计

在信息化社会,智能建筑越来越多的被提及,智能建筑是指对建筑内外信息交换、舒适性、便利性和节能性的要求;建筑物室内湿度是人们在其中生活、工作、生产的重要考量因素;而随着技术发展,以高效稳定的FPGA芯片为核心的控制系统开始向智能建筑领域应用部署;因此文章提出并设计了基于FPGA的智能建筑湿度检测控制系统方案;文中采用硬件分析和软件设计相结合的方法;硬件分析需要对系统做一个整体把握并寻找经济实惠、稳定可靠的芯片,硬件的可靠是系统稳定工作的前提;软件设计需要将系统的工作方式和实际可能遇到的问题考虑进去,提高系统的容错能力;最后软硬结合并实验实践操作验证系统的可靠性;在实验结果中,该系统可以有效的调节室内的湿度并根据遇到的问题发出警告提示;得出结论,以FPGA控制器为核心的系统,可以担起智能建筑的湿度检测控制任务,并稳定工作。     

成像光谱技术中机上实时数据压缩方法研究

根据成像光谱仪的特点用一系列串行的一维压缩实现二维图像压缩.提出了在机上对原始数据从光谱方向进行实时压缩的“二真值线性预测方法”.该法可做到压缩/复原后光谱特征信息不丢失.实验表明,对大多数光谱数据在1%的重建精度下,至少可获得2:1的压缩比.从总体而言,压缩后原始数据率可降低3～4倍.文中还对压缩数据的编码和误差进行了讨论.     

大数据预处理中属性约简的特性保持分析

伴随着工业及社会信息化程度的增强,各个领域的自动化程度越来越高,大规模及超大规模海量数据应运而生,呈现出大数据特征。这些海量数据在提升行业发展动力的同时,也带来了巨大的挑战性问题—数据可用性。为了从海量数据中甄别出无用信息、挖掘有利于相关领域发展的有价值信息,就需要对其进行数据分析。数据预处理技术可以极大地减少数据分析时的处理量,提高数据分析处理的效率,而属性约简在数据预处理中是一个比较重要的环节。在分析大数据属性特征的基础上,较系统地分析了目前几种主流的属性约简算法,对各类算法的性能进行了剖析,并展望了今后大数据预处理的研究工作思路。     

Application of passive quadrature phase demodulation for the detection of laser ultrasound

In this paper we describe a laser ultrasound detection scheme based on a new passive phase demodulation technique. Typical laser interferometers suffer from the loss of sensitivity because of phase drifts resulting from the mechanical movements of optical components and normally require closed loop stabilisation control. Through the use of a custom-designed grating mask, the present design completely eliminates the need for any feedback control by simultaneously sampling the interferometer output in the four quadrants of the optical phase circle. The signals are then processed to reproduce the actual waveform of the ultrasound pulse. The operation of the proposed technique is demonstrated through the detection of laser-generated ultrasound waves propagating inside an aluminium block.     

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.     

LiDAR data reduction assisted by optical image for 3D building reconstruction

The focus of LiDAR data compression and reduction has been raised in recent years due to the dramatically huge amount of points cloud. To improve the disposal efficiency of LiDAR data, a data reduction method assisted by optical image for 3D reconstruction of building facade is proposed in this article. The method involves a series of procedures of “2D feature line extraction – 3D feature line converting – buffer area of LiDAR points”. The main issue here is finding out a LiDAR point dataset around the 3D feature segment converted from 2D feature lines, which benefits to improving the efficiency of post-processing based on LiDAR data. The reduced LiDAR data can be obtained with reliable structures and accurate geometric position. Furthermore, the experiment of the LiDAR data reduction was conducted over the Xingyuan Building in Nanjing Normal University. The reduction method in this paper proved to be suit for the regular objects modeling, on the basis of the reliable and rigorous mathematical models and computer algorithms, and was a fundamental and useful approach to improve the efficiency of 3D reconstruction of building with the higher modeling accuracy.     

A new method of ultrasound color flow mapping

Conventional ultrasound color flow mapping systems estimate and visualize only the axial velocity component. To obtain the transverse velocity component a modification of a multiple-beam method is proposed. The new two-dimensional color flow mapping system has a small size and consists of three transducers. The central transducer is an appodized and focused phased array. The other transducers are unfocused probes. Three transducers act as receivers and the central transducer operates as a transmitter. All receivers acquire rf scan lines that are then processed to estimate three axial velocity components using an autocorrelation method. These estimates are then combined to estimate the transverse velocity component, taking into account the geometric relationships among three transducers. Two algorithms for transverse velocity estimation are proposed. The first uses the Doppler angle estimate for calculation of the transverse velocity component. The other algorithm calculates the transverse velocity component directly from the axial components. The accuracy of the flow velocity estimators is estimated by simulations. Analysis of accuracy allows choosing the more effective algorithm for two-dimensional velocity estimation, which is insensitive to variations of the Doppler angle.     

OFDM水声通信实时处理系统的多处理器并行

OFDM(正交频分复用)充分利用频带,具有较高的数据传输速率;ADSP-TS101是具有高速并行处理能力的高性能数学信号处理芯片。针对OFDM水声通信的实时处理要求,本文设计并研制了具有实时处理能力的水声通信系统。该系统包括由多片ADSP-TS101构成的松/紧联合耦合的并行处理结构作为处理核心、无相位偏差的多通道同步采样模块和FPGA(现场可编程门阵列)逻辑控制模块。湖上实验结果表明该系统具有良好的稳定性和实时处理能力,满足工程设计要求。     

A fast-saliency method for real-time infrared small target detection

Infrared small target detection plays an important role in applications including military reconnaissance, early warning and terminal guidance. In this paper, we present a fast method, called fast-saliency, with very low computational complexity, for real-time small target detection in single image frame under various complex backgrounds. Different from traditional algorithms, the proposed method is inspired by a recent research on visual saliency detection indicating that small salient signals could be well detected by a gradient enhancement operation combined with Gaussian smoothing, which is able to delineate regions of small targets in infrared images. Concisely, there are only four simple steps contained in fast-saliency. In order, they are gradient operation, square computation, Gaussian smoothing and automatic thresholding, representing the four procedures as highpass filtering, target enhancement, noise suppression and target segmentation, respectively. Especially, for the most crucial step, gradient operation, we innovatively propose a 5 × 5 facet kernel operator that holds the key for separating the small targets from backgrounds. To verify the effectiveness of our proposed method, a set of real infrared images covering typical backgrounds with sea, sky and ground clutters are tested in experiments. The results demonstrate that it outperforms the state-of-the-art methods not only in detection accuracy, but also in computation efficiency.     

Long distance real-time measurement of multi-points micro-vibration in region by digital holography

Many applications require micro-vibration measurement, especially multi-points detection at long distance in real-time. In this paper, a micro-vibration measurement approach based on digital holographic interferometry is proposed for middle-low frequency detection. It can be used to monitor irregular frequency/amplitude vibration in selected region over 10 m away simultaneously and synchronously. A series of experiments were conducted including real-time measurement of 300 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz and 3 kHz constant frequency/amplitude periodic vibration, precision and frequency response tests with calibration of LDV, 1 kHz irregular amplitude vibration, irregular frequency/amplitude vibration as well as the real-time measurement and simultaneous display of multi-points vibration. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method and reveal its unique advantages.     

超声波在食品技术中的应用

强超声在媒质中传播时产生力学效应、空化效应和热效应,产匝此增强质量传输和热传递,对介质产生强的切向力。本文对超声波在辅助或强化提取,冷冻、乳化、结晶和干燥等食品的加工技术中应用加以综述。     

A comparative analysis of multi-pulse techniques in contrast-enhanced ultrasound medical imaging

One of the important issues in the field of ultrasound medical imaging using contrast agents is the development of techniques able to separate the response of the contrast media from that of the biological tissues. In the literature, one can find various solutions involving the use of multiple transmitted signals and the combination of related echoes. However, the quality of these techniques may be reduced due to some undesired effects that are seldom considered, despite the fact that they are always present in real systems. These effects are the signal distortions introduced by the hardware equipment, the thermal noise in the electronic circuitry, and body motion between successive pulses. In this paper we propose a simulation tool that will allow the calculation of the backscattered echo from a population of contrast agents immersed in a biological tissue, considering all the mentioned effects. With this tool, an assessment of the comparative robustness of three well-known multi-pulse techniques has been carried out under realistic working conditions and the performance of the three techniques has been evaluated in terms of contrast-to-tissue ratio and signal-to-noise ratio. The results show that the undesired effects have a strong impact on these techniques and that there are notable differences in their robustness. Finally, some suggestions on the choice of the particular technique to be applied are provided on the basis of the specific work conditions.     

Using ultrasound technology for the inactivation and thermal sensitization of peroxidase in green coconut water

Green coconut water has unique nutritional and sensorial qualities. Despite the different technologies already studied, its enzymatic stability is still challenging. This study evaluated the use of ultrasound technology (US) for inactivating/sensitizing coconut water peroxidase (POD). The effect of both US application alone and as a pre-treatment to thermal processing was evaluated. The enzyme activity during US processing was reduced 27% after 30 min (286 W/L, 20 kHz), demonstrating its high resistance. The thermal inactivation was described by the Weibull model under non-isothermal conditions. The enzyme became sensitized to heat after US pre-treatment. Further, the use of US resulted in more uniform heat resistance. The results suggest that US is a good technology for sensitizing enzymes before thermal processing (even for an enzyme with high thermal resistance). Therefore, the use of this technology could decrease the undesirable effects of long times and/or the high temperatures of the conventional thermal processing.