Effects of red blood cell aggregates dissociation on the estimation of ultrasound speckle image velocimetry

Ultrasound speckle image of blood is mainly attributed by red blood cells (RBCs) which tend to form RBC aggregates. RBC aggregates are separated into individual cells when the shear force is over a certain value. The dissociation of RBC aggregates has an influence on the performance of ultrasound speckle image velocimetry (SIV) technique in which a cross-correlation algorithm is applied to the speckle images to get the velocity field information. The present study aims to investigate the effect of the dissociation of RBC aggregates on the estimation quality of SIV technique. Ultrasound B-mode images were captured from the porcine blood circulating in a mock-up flow loop with varying flow rate. To verify the measurement performance of SIV technique, the centerline velocity measured by the SIV technique was compared with that measured by Doppler spectrograms. The dissociation of RBC aggregates was estimated by using decorrelation of speckle patterns in which the subsequent window was shifted as much as the speckle displacement to compensate decorrelation caused by in-plane loss of speckle patterns. The decorrelation of speckles is considerably increased according to shear rate. Its variations are different along the radial direction. Because the dissociation of RBC aggregates changes ultrasound speckles, the estimation quality of SIV technique is significantly correlated with the decorrelation of speckles. This degradation of measurement quality may be improved by increasing the data acquisition rate. This study would be useful for simultaneous measurement of hemodynamic and hemorheological information of blood flows using only speckle images.     

Robust technique of analyzing and locating laser speckle patterns for optical computer mice

Laser speckles have been used in measurement techniques, since they were discovered to be correlated with the displacement of the light source. This paper presents a robust technique of analyzing and locating laser speckle patterns (LSPs) for a prototype of a laser optical mouse. After the speckle images are captured from the image-grabbing device, they are analyzed by the proposed image processing procedures and normalized cross-correlation (NCC) is adopted to develop position-locating rules for laser speckle patterns. To verify robustness of the proposed approach, nine different materials of mouse pad are used. Experimental results show that they have all achieved similar and promising performance. Therefore, the proposed technique can not only precisely calculate the moving directions and displacement information for laser speckles, the linearity for the prototype of laser mouse can also be verified.     

Quality assessment of speckle patterns for digital image correlation

Digital image correlation (DIC) is an optical–numerical full-field displacement measuring technique, which is nowadays widely used in the domain of experimental mechanics. The technique is based on a comparison between pictures taken during loading of an object. For an optimal use of the method, the object of interest has to be covered with painted speckles. In the present paper, a comparison is made between three different speckle patterns originated by the same reference speckle pattern. A method is presented for the determination of the speckle size distribution of the speckle patterns, using image morphology. The images of the speckle patterns are numerically deformed based on a finite element simulation. Subsequently, the displacements are measured with DIC-software and compared to the imposed ones. It is shown that the size of the speckles combined with the size of the used pixel subset clearly influences the accuracy of the measured displacements.     

Assessment of speckle-pattern quality in digital image correlation based on gray intensity and speckle morphology

In digital image correlation (DIC), speckle patterns are generated on the surface of a specimen to resolve uniqueness issues. Thus, speckle patterns significantly affect the accuracy of image correlation. To assess the quality of speckle patterns, the standard deviation of gray intensities within each speckle (SDGIS) is introduced as a new metric. On the basis of the cumulative distribution of SDGIS, speckle-pattern quality measurement (ρ) is proposed, which integrates the features of gray intensity and speckle morphology. Twelve speckle patterns are generated by changing the spraying time and nozzle sizes of an airbrush because these are associated with the speckle volume fraction and speckle size, respectively. In addition, three displacement fields are used to investigate the effects of speckle patterns on the accuracy of the DIC results. For the 12 speckle images associated with the three displacement fields, the correlation results demonstrate that the proposed speckle-pattern quality measurement is inversely proportional to the averaged error of the subset method. This is statistically confirmed by evaluating the correlation coefficient and p-value. Furthermore, the error of the subset method is more affected by speckle patterns than the subset size when the subset size is sufficiently large.     

菲涅耳衍射区和夫琅和费衍射区的动态部分相干光散斑场特性

研究了菲涅耳衍射区和夫琅和费衍射区动态部分相干光散斑的特性.利用部分相干光互强度传播的理论，得出了在部分相干光照明时，由运动散射体产生的动态散斑光强时空交叉的自相关函数的一般形式，并由此得出了散斑沸腾和平移的一般规律.通过适当选择光源和调整光路参数，在实验上得到了菲涅耳和夫琅和费衍射区的部分相干光散斑，对夫琅和费面上的动态部分相干光散斑的平移和沸腾现象进行了定性研究；采用光子计数及数据自动采集的方法，对部分相干光散斑随时间的演化及动态部分相干光散斑的沸腾进行了定量测量.这些实验结果与理论结果相符合. 关键词： 部分相干光动态散斑 时空交叉相关函数 沸腾     

激光散斑图样的光流场分析研究

提出了一种基于动态图像处理的新的电子散斑计量方法－光流场分析法，从新的角度出发讨论了运用图像序列分析的概念秋解决散斑图样测量的可行性和简便性。并且解决了当散斑图像不满足进行光流场分析的约束条件时的测量问题，即通过多通道的图像处理方法来改变图像连续特性，从而扩大了测量范围。     

Sensitivity to point-spread function parameters in medical ultrasound image deconvolution

Clinical ultrasound images are often perceived as difficult to interpret due to image blurring and speckle inherent in the ultrasound imaging. But the image quality can be improved by deconvolution using an estimate of the point-spread function. However, it is difficult to obtain a sufficiently accurate estimate of the point-spread function in vivo because of the unknown properties of the soft tissue in clinical applications. Local variations in the speed of sound and attenuation change the pulse and beam shape. These in turn affect the point-spread function. The purpose and novelty of this paper is therefore to explore the sensitivity of a state-of-the-art deconvolution algorithm to uncertainty in the point-spread function. The point-spread function in our restoration algorithm is made shift invariant in the lateral dimension but shift dependent in the axial direction, and is modelled to match a 128-element 1D linear array often found in clinical use. We present simulated and in vitro sensitivity analyses of two-dimensional deconvolution while varying six parameters on which the point-spread function depends. Uncertainty in the ultrasound machine is analysed by varying the axial depths of lateral and elevational foci alongside height and width of transducer elements. Sensitivity to tissue influence is investigated by varying the speed of sound and frequency-dependent attenuation of the electro-mechanical impulse response. The results are analysed both quantitatively and in terms of the perceived image quality. First, the assessment of deconvolution using the logarithmic image amplitude is found to be a better indicator of the perceived improvement in the restoration. Secondly, the two most critical parameters for two-dimensional deconvolution are discovered to be the lateral focus and the speed of sound, because the success of deconvolution is perceived primarily in terms of deblurring. We also observed similar patterns for the simulation and in vitro experiment. Finally, we show that it is possible to restore in vivo ultrasound images using an assumed point-spread function and hence conclude that an exact point-spread function is not necessary for enhancing ultrasound image quality by deconvolution.     

Roughness measurement of metals using a modified binary speckle image and adaptive optics

This paper proposes an integrated roughness measurement system that is based on adaptive optics (AO) and binary analysis of speckle pattern images. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the necessity for AO compensation in regions containing both heat and fluid flow turbulences. A speckle image was obtained by projecting a laser beam onto the specimen surface, and the laser pattern image reflected from the surface was binarized to experimentally correlate the intensity with the surface roughness. In the absence of the AO correction scheme, induced turbulences can severely increase the residual rms error from 0.14 to 1.4 μm. After a real-time closed-loop AO correction, we can reduce the wavefront root mean square (rms) error to 0.12 μm, which not only compensates for the aberration error from induced disturbances but also improves the overall performance of the optical system. In addition, an AO system having different gains was investigated, and a threshold gain value was found to be able to steadily compensate for the wavefront errors in less than 2 s. Measurement results of five steel samples having roughness ranging from 0.2 to 3.125 μm (0.3λ and 5λ, where λ is the diode laser wavelength) demonstrate an excellent correlation between the intensity distribution of binary images and average roughness with a correlation coefficient of 0.9982. Furthermore, the proposed AO-assisted system is in good agreement with the stylus method and less than 9.73% error values can be consistently obtained.     

Statistical properties of polarization image and despeckling method by multiresolution block-matching 3D filter

The theoretical and experimental investigations on the polarization imagery system of speckle statistical characteristics and speckle removing method are researched. A method to obtain two images encoded by polarization degree with a single measurement process is proposed. A theoretical model for polarization imagery system on Müller matrix is proposed. According to modern charge coupled device (CCD) imaging characteristics, speckles are divided into two kinds, namely small speckle and big speckle. Based on this model, a speckle reduction algorithm based on a dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DTCWT) and blockmatching 3D filter (BM3D) is proposed (DTBM3D). Original laser image data transformed by logarithmic compression is decomposed by DTCWT into approximation and detail subbands. Bilateral filtering is applied to the approximation subbands, and a suited BM3D filter is applied to the detail subbands. The despeckling results show that contrast improvement index and edge preserve index outperform those of traditional methods. The researches have important reference value in research of speckle noise level and removing speckle noise.     

Speckle noise attenuation in optical coherence tomography by compounding images acquired at different positions of the sample

This study demonstrates a simple method for attenuating the speckle noise generated by coherent multiple-scattered photons in optical-coherence tomography images. The method could be included among the space-diversity techniques used for speckle reduction. It relies on displacing the sample along a weakly focused beam in the sample arm of the interferometer, acquiring a coherent image for each sample position and adding the individual images to form a compounded image. It is proven that the compounded image displays a reduction in the speckle noise generated by multiple scattered photons and an enhancement in the intensity signal caused by single-backscattered photons. To evaluate its potential biomedical applications, the method is used to investigate in vitro a caries lesion affecting the enamel layer of a wisdom tooth. Because of the uncorrelated nature of the speckle noise the compounded image provides a better mapping of the lesion compared to a single (coherent) image.     

Velocity and density field measurements by digital speckle method

Velocity and density field measurements based on image processing of laser speckle or pseudo-speckle pattern have been developed. Laser speckle velocimetry (LSV) or white-light speckle velocimetry (WSV), which corresponds to a high-image-density PIV, gives a local velocity vector map or whole field velocity contour map of a two-dimensional flow field seeded densely with fine particles. This technique has an advantage in high-speed flow measurement without limit of frame rate except for directional ambiguity. New techniques of laser speckle photography and laser speckle interferometry by means of digital image processing have been developed recently for density field measurements. In laser speckle photography, a local density gradient vector map is reconstructed by cross-correlation evaluation between the reference and the object speckle patterns. In laser speckle interferometry, an equi-density contour map is reconstructed by image subtraction between the reference and the object interferometric speckle patterns.     

Mechanism of speckle reduction in laser-microscope images using a rotating optical fiber

The reduction mechanism of speckles appearing in laser-microscope images is studied theoretically and experimentally when an object is illuminated by laser light through a rotating multimode optical fiber. The principle of the speckle reduction is based on independent addition of microscope images with boiling-like speckles as a result of the rotational motion of the optical fiber used for illumination. Especially, the speckle reduction is evaluated from first-order statistics of the speckle intensity in which its saturation effect is taken into consideration.     

强散射体产生的像面散斑对比度与随机表面及成像系统关系的研究

在对4f光学成像系统中强散射体形成的像面散斑的统计特性的研究中, 首先通过散斑场光波复振幅的一般形式和双重指数函数近似求出散斑光强的系综平均, 然后利用散斑场光波复振幅的实部和虚部的旋转变换法求出散斑光强的方差, 最后得出了散斑对比度与随机表面统计参量和系统参量的直接表达式. 本结果与现有文献中包含随机表面相关面积或散射粒子数目的隐含表达式相比具有明显的改进, 并对标定随机表面的散斑对比度法具有重要意义. 关键词： 随机表面 像面散斑 对比度     

Ultrasonic visualization of dynamic behavior of red blood cells in flowing blood

It is well known that the scatter of ultrasound by blood is mainly attributed to red blood cells (RBCs) and RBC aggregation. In the present review, researches of hemodynamic influence on RBC aggregation and ultrasound backscatter from blood were overviewed. A mock flow loop and a cylindrical chamber were employed to produce various blood flows, such as pulsatile, oscillatory, and rotational flow. The “black hole” (BLH), a dark hole at the tube center surrounded by bright zone in the cross sectional B-mode image and “bright collapsing ring” (BRCR) phenomena, appearance of bright ring at the periphery and collapse of it at the center during a pulsatile cycle, were observed under pulsatile flow. The combined effects of shear rate and flow acceleration on RBC aggregation were suggested as a possible mechanism for these phenomena. The stroke volume-dependence of the “bright ring” phenomenon under oscillatory flow could also be explained by flow acceleration. The enveloped echo images from rotational flow in a compact blood chamber showed the spatial and temporal variations of RBC aggregation, which varied with the mammalian species. In the stenotic model, it was found that the echogenic variation increased locally at a distance of three tube diameters downstream from the stenosis during decelerating period, which was proposed to be mainly due to flow turbulence. The similar ‘bright ring’ was also observed fromin vivo human carotid artery in harmonic imaging.     

超声散斑相移法测量技术

超声散斑相移法能满足工程建设中对水下物内层界面关键点位移进行测量的特殊要求。测量时,引入数字参考信号与物面测点上的散斑信号进行数字干涉,获得叠加信号强度。界面位移前后,应用软件逐步改变参考信号相位,可逐步改变叠加信号强度,根据这些信号强度值可计算出测点的位移量。应用此技术对水下试件内层表面的法线和切线方向上的位移进行了实测,测量结果与理论值有较好的吻合;研究表明打磨后的粗糙外层界面不影响应用相移法进行测量。在应用相移法测量时,不需声像转换,不需全场扫描,测量精度不受散斑尺寸限制。      

基于Rician分布的散斑噪声的超声图像模拟算法*

为了衡量各种去噪算法的性能,在干净无噪声的图像上添加接近真实且可控的散斑噪声是非常重要的,提出一种基于Rician分布的不完全发育的斑点噪声的超声图像模拟算法。该算法考虑到了声波区域中包含孤立的强散射体的情况,同时结合了超声成像的扫描过程。以合成图像和肾脏图像为体模进行了模拟实验,并对最终生成的伪超声图像进行了噪声分布统计及拟合检验。实验结果表明该算法生成的伪超声图像在视觉上和理论上都接近真实的超声图像。     

Dynamic laser speckles and their application to velocity measurements of the diffuse object

In connection with the parameters of the optical configuration used to produce speckles and under illumination of a Gaussian beam over a moving diffuse object, this paper discusses the statistical properties of dynamic speckles produced in the diffraction and image fields by the diffuse object moving in a plane with constant velocity. Especially, the space-time correlation function of the dynamic speckle intensity is examined in detail. Two typical speckle motions of translation and boiling are interpreted for various optical configurations in the diffraction and image fields. As one of the interesting applications of dynamic speckles to metrology, various methods for velocity measurements of the diffuse object are introduced.     

Error analysis for polychromatic speckle contrast measurements

Revival of interest in speckle technologies raises a curial question on the accuracy calculation of speckle measurements. In particular, the accuracy calculation of speckle contrast, an important metrics of a stochastic process, is quite different from the accuracy calculation of a typical intensity measurement. Speckle contrast depends more on stochastic characteristics of a process rather than on hardware characteristics. In this article, we consider errors introduced by the limited number of available speckle and by intensity saturation for monochromatic and polychromatic speckles. Equations for these types of errors were derived. Particularly, we show that the error due to limited number of speckles is inversely proportional to the square root of the speckle number, in the similar way as the average intensity error. For the error due to limited dynamic range of a recording device, the truncation effect increases the error as the mean intensity increased. Monochromatic speckles are more sensitive to such truncation than polychromatic speckles. We report the optimal mean intensity in terms of the pixel depth of a recording device and the total number of speckle recorded. In addition, a recommendation to minimize the saturation error for a typical camera is included.     

Anomalous intensity of pinned speckles at high adaptive correction

Ground-based optical searches for faint stellar or planetary companions about other stars may be limited by speckle noise, which is the rapid intensity fluctuations that are due to motions of remnant atmospheric speckles. Adaptive optics (AO) can reduce residual wave-front phase errors to low values, substantially reducing the unwanted power in the speckle halo. At high correction, however, the noise in the halo will be dominated by anomalously bright "pinned" speckles that have a number of unusual properties. They can have negative intensities and will appear in spatially antisymmetric patterns; they are spatially pinned to Airy rings and have zero mean in a sufficiently long integration. Some of these properties may be used to reduce the unanticipated effect of pinned speckles on companion searches, depending on details of the AO system. But, in short exposures, pinned speckles dominate speckle noise over much of the inner halo for Strehl ratios S as low as 0.6 and over much of the outer halo too as Strehl and deformable-mirror actuator densities increase. I show that these anomalously bright pinned speckles are not included in the traditional expression for speckle power in an image, (1 - S), on which sensitivity estimates of future high-performance AO systems have been based.     

Dynamic properties of speckled speckles with relation to velocity measurements of a diffuse object

This paper investigates, experimentally, the dynamic properties of triply-scattered speckled speckles and their application to the velocity measurement of a moving diffuse object, which is behind a transparent diffuse screen. The comparison between triply-scattered speckled speckles and singly-scattered normal speckles shows that the triply-scattered speckle pattern has a high degree of randomness in the spatial domain and that its time-varying intensity fluctuations have a rate 72 times that of the normal speckle case in the temporal domain. Consequently, a velocimeter using the triply-scattered speckles can measure the object velocity with a greatly reduced measuring time than when using normal speckles.