Less Signals, Better Processing Results – Ultrasound Multiplicative Arrays Benefits and Opportunities

The challenge of producing high-resolution and high frame-rate ultrasound video streams while maintaining a high-quality image through signal processing algorithms requires a multi-individual channel processing. Whether these algorithms are implemented at the front-end (FE) or back-end (BE) modules, they drive up power consumption in the FE module. In addition, power-demanding analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and either a high-power FE CPU or a high-power intra-module communication are used to support the increase in data throughput. Radio telescope engineers have faced similar challenges and have used multiplicative beamforming for the construction of thinned antenna arrays. Accordingly, through nonlinear multiplicative processing we approximate the beam profile of an evenly spaced ultrasonic array by multiplying and then filtering two sub-arrays of elements: one consisting of a short-filled array of elements and a centered-aligned thinned array. The reduction in the number of channels allows computationally intensive signal processing algorithms that would have been otherwise unfeasible in power restricted systems, e.g. in battery-operated ultrasound systems. Examples of improved imaging results with reduced clutter are shown and discussed.