LightProbe: A Digital Ultrasound Probe for Software-Defined Ultrafast Imaging
LightProbe: A Digital Ultrasound Probe for Software-Defined Ultrafast Imaging
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DOI：
10.1109/tuffc.2019.2898007
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发表时间：
2019-04-01
影响因子：
3.6
通讯作者：
Benini, Luca
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hager, Pascal Alexander;Benini, Luca
数字超声探头将模拟前端集成在探头手柄的外壳中，并提供数字接口，而不需要昂贵的同轴电缆线束来连接。目前的数字探头瞄准便携式市场，对探头执行大部分处理(波束成形)，这使得探头能够连接到平板电脑或智能手机等商用设备，运行超声应用程序来显示图像和控制探头。热约束限制了前端通道的数量以及处理的复杂性。这阻止了当前的数字探头支持需要高帧速率成像的高级模式，例如矢量流或弹性成像。在本文中，我们介绍了一种数字超声探头，它集成了通道100VPP TX/RX前端，包括模数转换(12位高达32.5MS/S)，并配备了光纤高速链路(26.4 Gb/S)，为所有通道提供可持续的原始样品访问，允许在连接的设备上执行处理而不受热功率限制。通过将探头连接到配备图形处理单元的PC，我们演示了使用传统和超快方法进行软件定义的B模式成像的灵活性。我们实现了平面波和合成孔径成像，帧速率从30到500赫兹，功耗在5.6到10.7 W之间。通过结合使用功率和热管理技术，我们证明了即使没有主动冷却，探头也可以保持在工作温度范围内，而且永远不需要关闭探头进行冷却，从而为操作员提供一致的服务质量。
Digital ultrasound probes integrate the analog front end in the housing of the probe handle and provide a digital interface instead of requiring an expensive coaxial cable harness to connect. Current digital probes target the portable market and perform the bulk of the processing (beamforming) on the probe, which enables the probe to be connected to commodity devices, such as tablets or smartphones, running an ultrasound app to display the image and control the probe. Thermal constraints limit the number of front-end channels as well as the complexity of the processing. This prevents current digital probes to support advanced modalities, such as vector flow or elastography, requiring high-frame-rate imaging. In this paper, we present LIGHT-PROBE, a digital ultrasound probe, which integrates a 64-channel 100-Vpp TX/RX front end, including analog-to-digital conversion (up to 32.5 MS/s at 12 bit), and is equipped with an optical high-speed link (26.4 Gb/s) providing sustainable raw samples access to all the channels, which allows the processing to be performed on the connected device without thermal power constraints. By connecting the probe to a graphics processing unit-equipped PC, we demonstrate the flexibility of software-defined B-mode imaging using conventional and ultrafast methods. We achieve plane-wave and synthetic aperture imaging with frame rates from 30 up to 500 Hz consuming between 5.6 and 10.7 W. By using a combination of power and thermal management techniques, we demonstrate that the probe can remain within operating temperature limits even without active cooling, while never having to turn the probe off for cooling, hence providing a consistent quality of service for the operator.