Conference paper
Trade off study on different envelope detectors for B-mode imaging
Generation of B-mode images involves envelope detection of the RF-signals. Various detection algorithms are available. A trade off between performance, price, and complexity determines the choice of algorithm in an ultrasound system. A Hilbert Transform (HT) and a subsequent computation of the magnitude give the ideal envelope, but the approach (IDE) is expensive and complex.
A rectifier (REC) is a simple, low-cost solution, but the performance is severely degraded (especially in dynamic imaging). This study has investigated the possibility of providing a detector with a complexity and cost close to REC, while maintaining a performance close to IDE. Two low-cost detectors have been implemented and evaluated on in-vivo data.
The first approach is an expansion of the rectifier with a median filter (ERM). The second detector (TAS) approximates the HT by a time delay and the magnitude by a weighted sum of the real and imaginary signals. The four detectors were evaluated on in-vivo data acquired with a B-K Medical 2102 scanner interfaced to the sampling system RASMINE.
Three data sets were acquired with three different center frequencies. Hundred images were acquired as the transducer was moved across the liver and the carotid artery of a 30 years old healthy male. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) relative to IDE, and a visual inspection determine performance. For the 3.5 MHz data set RMSE's of 15.7%, 1.6%,and 1.9% are obtained with REC, ERM, and TAS, respectively.
The performance is similar for the two other data sets. Close to ideal envelope detection is therefore obtainable with a simple detector (ERM or TAS), which is less complex and costly.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2003 |
| Pages: | 1938-1941 |
| Proceedings: | 2003 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium |
| Series: | I E E E International Ultrasonics Symposium. Proceedings |
| ISBN: | 0780379225 and 9780780379220 |
| ISSN: | 15513025 and 10510117 |
| Types: | Conference paper |
| DOI: | 10.1109/ULTSYM.2003.1293296 |
| ORCIDs: | Jensen, Jørgen Arendt |
3.5 MHz B-K Medical 2102 scanner B-mode imaging Costs Degradation Detection algorithms ERM Envelope detectors Filters Hilbert Transform Hilbert transforms IDE Image generation Medical signal detection RASMINE RF signals RMSE Rectifiers Signal generators TAS Ultrasonic imaging acoustic signal processing biological tissues biomedical transducers biomedical ultrasonics carotid artery complexity detection algorithms dynamic imaging envelope detectors ideal envelope imaginary signal in-vivo data liver real signal rectifier root-mean-square error sampling system second detector sensors time delay trade off study transducer ultrasonic imaging visual inspection
