PriMera Scientific Engineering (ISSN: 2834-2550)

Research Article

Volume 4 Issue 3

A MATLAB-Based Graphical User Interface to Assess Conventional and Chirp-Coded Ultrasonic Excitation

Rojelio de Bairro*, Fabio Henrique Almeida Fernandes, Ednilson de Souza Contieri, Cristhiane Goncalves, Gilson Maekawa Kanashiro, Amauri Amorin Assef, Joaquim Miguel Maia and Eduardo Tavares Costa

February 22, 2024

View PDF

Abstract

Innovative coded excitation techniques have been proposed to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ultrasound signals, which are significantly attenuated by scattering and absorption. Among the methods applied, the linear-frequency modulation signal, commonly defined as chirp signal, has been studied to provide images with greater depth, even in high attenuation media, maintaining the spatial resolution found in conventional excitation systems. This article presents a graphical user interface (GUI) based on Matlab to simulate short-duration conventional excitation (CE) pulses and long-duration chirp-coded excitation (CCE) pulses. The GUI allows the selection of apodization window, center frequency, and pulse duration parameters. In addition, it is possible to configure the bandwidth of the chirp signal. Pulse evaluations were performed with a central frequency of 1.6 MHz, using three cycles for CE and a duration of 5, 10, and 20 µs for CCE with a bandwidth of ±200 kHz, ±400 kHz, and ±1 MHz in a phantom simulated with ten targets. The echo signals for the CCE were processed using a matched filter to evaluate the spatial resolution and attenuation. Simulation results demonstrate the flexibility and performance of the proposed GUI for ultrasound excitation studies. The evaluation of CCE with a frequency of 1.6 MHz ± 1 MHz and matched filter improved spatial resolution by 86%. In contrast, a maximum increase in attenuation of the processed signal of 33% was observed.

Keywords: Ultrasound; conventional excitation; chirp-coded excitation; match filter; signal processing

References

  1. Assef AA., et al. “FPGA implementation and evaluation of an approximate Hilbert transform-based envelope detector for ultrasound imaging using the DSP builder development tool”. In: 2019 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC IEEE (2019): 2813-2816.
  2. Garcia VB. “Development and evaluation of a multi-channel transmission system with arbitrary waveform with chirp coded excitation”. Master’s thesis, State University of Campinas, Campinas (2020).
  3. Hartley CJ. Ultrasonic Bioinstrumentation: Da Christensen, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1988 (1989): 235.
  4. Jensen JA. “Medical ultrasound imaging”. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 93.1-3 (2007): 153-165
  5. Jensen JA., et al. “Ultrasound research scanner for real-time synthetic aperture data acquisition”. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 52.5 (2005): 881-891.
  6. Medeiros RAC., et al. “A Matlab GUI interface for multi-level pulse amplitude modulation (pam) generation in medical ultrasound research”. In: 2021 IEEE UFFC Latin America Ultrasonics Symposium (LAUS), IEEE (2021): 1-4.
  7. Misaridis T and Jensen JA. “Use of modulated excitation signals in medical ultrasound. part i: Basic concepts and expected benefits”. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 52.2 (2005): 177-191.
  8. Misaridis T and Jensen JA. “Use of modulated excitation signals in medical ultra-sound. Part II: Design and performance for medical imaging applications”. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 52.2 (2005): 192-207.
  9. Ng KH. “International guidelines and regulations for the safe use of diagnostic ultrasound in medicine”. Journal of Medical Ultrasound 10.1 (2002): 5-9.
  10. O’Donnell M. “Coded excitation system for improving the penetration of real-time phased-array imaging systems”. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 39.3 (1992): 341-351.
  11. Ozum HE., et al. “An open source, modular and scalable hifu driver system”. In: 2017 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS), IEEE (2017): 1-4.
  12. Qiu W., et al. “A multifunctional, reconfigurable pulse generator for high-frequency ultrasound imaging”. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control 59.7 (2012): 1558-1567.
  13. Smith J., et al. “Future of health insurance”. N Engl J Med 965 (1999): 325-329.
  14. Stein JH., et al. “Use of carotid ultrasound to identify subclinical vascular disease and evaluate cardiovascular disease risk: a consensus statement from the american society of echocardiography carotid intima-media thickness task force endorsed by the society for vascular medicine”. Journal of the American Society of echocardiography 21.2 (2008): 93-111.
  15. York G and Kim Y. “Ultrasound processing and computing: Review and future directions”. Annual review of biomedical engineering 1.1 (1999): 559-588.