Development of a prototype ultrasound imaging instrument for industrial and medical applications

该项目的目的是与英国中小企业精密声学有限公司合作，开发和评估用于工业和医疗应用的激光超声成像仪器原型。这项技术基于一项受专利保护的新型光学传感技术，该技术是在伦敦大学学院发明的，其可行性随后在EPSRC资助的300万美元研究项目中得到了验证。经过概念验证，该技术现在已经成熟，可以进行商业开发。合作基金将用于实现这一目标，为目标应用构建一个原型仪器，即对治疗性医疗超声设备的输出成像，例如用于粉碎肾结石或摧毁癌性肿瘤的设备，以确保符合监管标准。虽然工作将集中在这一具体应用上，但该概念被视为一个技术平台，从长远来看，它将构成一系列仪器的基础，每种仪器都针对更大的工业无损检测（NDT）和医学成像市场中的特定应用。例如，随着进一步的发展，同样的技术最终可以用于可视化工程材料中的缺陷，或者作为一种医学成像系统，用于癌症和心血管疾病的检测、诊断和治疗监测。

The aim of this project is to develop and evaluate a prototype laser based ultrasound imaging instrument for industrial and medical applications in collaboration with a UK SME, Precision Acoustics Ltd. The technology is based upon a novel patent-protected optical sensing technology that was invented at UCL and its feasibility subsequently demonstrated under a major 3m EPSRC funded research programme. Having demonstrated proof-of-concept, the technology is now ripe for commercial exploitation. The Collaboration Fund will be used to achieve this by constructing a prototype instrument for a targeted application, namely, imaging the output of therapeutic medical ultrasound devices such as those used to fragment kidney stones or destroy cancerous tumours in order to ensure compliance with regulatory standards. Although effort will be focused on this specific application, the concept is regarded as a technology platform which, in the longer term, will form the basis of a range of instruments each targeted at a specific application within the significantly larger industrial non destructive testing (NDT) and medical imaging markets. For example, with additional development, the same technology could ultimately be used to visualise faults in engineering materials or as a medical imaging system for the detection, diagnosis and treatment monitoring of cancer and cardiovascular disease.