High Resolution, High Contrast Beamformer Using Minimum Variance and Plane Wave Nonlinear Compounding with Low Complexity
The plane wave compounding (PWC) is a promising modality to improve the imaging quality and maintain the high frame rate for ultrafast ultrasound imaging. In this paper, a novel beamforming method is proposed to achieve higher resolution and contrast with low complexity. A minimum variance (MV) weig...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/2/394 |
| _version_ | 1797414762149052416 |
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| author | Xin Yan Yanxing Qi Yinmeng Wang Yuanyuan Wang |
| author_facet | Xin Yan Yanxing Qi Yinmeng Wang Yuanyuan Wang |
| author_sort | Xin Yan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The plane wave compounding (PWC) is a promising modality to improve the imaging quality and maintain the high frame rate for ultrafast ultrasound imaging. In this paper, a novel beamforming method is proposed to achieve higher resolution and contrast with low complexity. A minimum variance (MV) weight calculated by the partial generalized sidelobe canceler is adopted to beamform the receiving array signals. The dimension reduction technique is introduced to project the data into lower dimensional space, which also contributes to a large subarray length. Estimation of multi-wave receiving covariance matrix is performed and then utilized to determine only one weight. Afterwards, a fast second-order reformulation of the delay multiply and sum (DMAS) is developed as nonlinear compounding to composite the beamforming output of multiple transmissions. Simulations, phantom, in vivo, and robustness experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Compared with the delay and sum (DAS) beamformer, the proposed method achieved 86.3% narrower main lobe width and 112% higher contrast ratio in simulations. The robustness to the channel noise of the proposed method is effectively enhanced at the same time. Furthermore, it maintains a linear computational complexity, which means that it has the potential to be implemented for real-time response. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:38:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ed99ed16c6a04068809de069c32ecda3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:38:31Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-ed99ed16c6a04068809de069c32ecda32023-12-03T12:27:38ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-01-0121239410.3390/s21020394High Resolution, High Contrast Beamformer Using Minimum Variance and Plane Wave Nonlinear Compounding with Low ComplexityXin Yan0Yanxing Qi1Yinmeng Wang2Yuanyuan Wang3Department of Electronic Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, ChinaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, ChinaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, ChinaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, ChinaThe plane wave compounding (PWC) is a promising modality to improve the imaging quality and maintain the high frame rate for ultrafast ultrasound imaging. In this paper, a novel beamforming method is proposed to achieve higher resolution and contrast with low complexity. A minimum variance (MV) weight calculated by the partial generalized sidelobe canceler is adopted to beamform the receiving array signals. The dimension reduction technique is introduced to project the data into lower dimensional space, which also contributes to a large subarray length. Estimation of multi-wave receiving covariance matrix is performed and then utilized to determine only one weight. Afterwards, a fast second-order reformulation of the delay multiply and sum (DMAS) is developed as nonlinear compounding to composite the beamforming output of multiple transmissions. Simulations, phantom, in vivo, and robustness experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Compared with the delay and sum (DAS) beamformer, the proposed method achieved 86.3% narrower main lobe width and 112% higher contrast ratio in simulations. The robustness to the channel noise of the proposed method is effectively enhanced at the same time. Furthermore, it maintains a linear computational complexity, which means that it has the potential to be implemented for real-time response.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/2/394plane wave compoundingminimum variancegeneralized sidelobe cancelerdimension reductiondelay multiply and sumnonlinear compounding |
| spellingShingle | Xin Yan Yanxing Qi Yinmeng Wang Yuanyuan Wang High Resolution, High Contrast Beamformer Using Minimum Variance and Plane Wave Nonlinear Compounding with Low Complexity Sensors plane wave compounding minimum variance generalized sidelobe canceler dimension reduction delay multiply and sum nonlinear compounding |
| title | High Resolution, High Contrast Beamformer Using Minimum Variance and Plane Wave Nonlinear Compounding with Low Complexity |
| title_full | High Resolution, High Contrast Beamformer Using Minimum Variance and Plane Wave Nonlinear Compounding with Low Complexity |
| title_fullStr | High Resolution, High Contrast Beamformer Using Minimum Variance and Plane Wave Nonlinear Compounding with Low Complexity |
| title_full_unstemmed | High Resolution, High Contrast Beamformer Using Minimum Variance and Plane Wave Nonlinear Compounding with Low Complexity |
| title_short | High Resolution, High Contrast Beamformer Using Minimum Variance and Plane Wave Nonlinear Compounding with Low Complexity |
| title_sort | high resolution high contrast beamformer using minimum variance and plane wave nonlinear compounding with low complexity |
| topic | plane wave compounding minimum variance generalized sidelobe canceler dimension reduction delay multiply and sum nonlinear compounding |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/2/394 |
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