An ultrasound research interface is a software tool loaded onto a diagnostic clinical ultrasound device which provides functionality beyond typical clinical modes of operation. A normal clinical ultrasound user only has access to the ultrasound data in its final processed form, typically a B-Mode image, in DICOM format. For reasons of device usability they also have limited access to the processing parameters that can be modified. A URI allows a researcher to achieve different results by either acquiring the image at various intervals through the processing chain, or changing the processing parameters.
Typical B-mode receive processing chain
A typical digital ultrasound processing chain for B-Mode imaging may look as follows:
Analog signals may pass through one or more analog notch filters and a variable-gain amplifier
Multiple analog-to-digital converters convert the analog radio frequency signal to a digital RF signal sampled at a predetermined rate and at a predetermined number of bits
Beamforming is applied to individual RF signals by applying time delays and summations as a function of time and transformed into a single RF signal
The RF signal is run through one or more digital FIR or IIR filters to extract the most interesting parts of the signal given the clinical operation
The filtered RF signal runs through an envelope detector and is log compressed into a grayscale format
Multiple signals processed in this way are lined up together and interpolated and rasterized into a readable image.
Data access
A URI may provide data access at many different stages of the processing chain, these include:
Pre-beamformed digital RF data from individual channels
A URI may include many different tools for enabling the researcher to make better use of the device and the data captured, some of these tools include:
Custom MATLAB programs for reading and processing signal and image data
Software Development Kits for communicating with the URI, signal processing and other specialized modes of operation available on the URI
The following non-exhaustive list of research labs are typical candidates that would use an ultrasound research interface for conducting experiments and collecting data. * * * * * *
