Yuriy Tasinkevych

Bio: Yuriy Tasinkevych is an academic researcher from Polish Academy of Sciences. The author has contributed to research in topics: Aperture & Synthetic aperture radar. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 34 publications receiving 196 citations.

Modified synthetic transmit aperture algorithm for ultrasound imaging

Abstract: The modified synthetic transmit aperture (STA) algorithm is described. The primary goal of this work was to assess the possibility to improve the image quality achievable using synthetic aperture (SA) approach and to evaluate the performance and the clinical applicability of the modified algorithm using phantoms. The modified algorithm is based on the coherent summation of back-scattered RF echo signals with weights calculated for each point in the image and for all possible combinations of the transmit–receive pairs. The weights are calculated using the angular directivity functions of the transmit–receive elements, which are approximated by a far-field radiation pattern of a narrow strip transducer element vibrating with uniform pressure amplitude over its width. In this way, the algorithm takes into account the finite aperture of each individual element in the imaging transducer array. The performance of the approach developed was tested using FIELD II simulated synthetic aperture data of the point reflectors, which allowed the visualization (penetration) depth and lateral resolution to be estimated. Also, both simulated and measured data of cyst phantom were used for qualitative assessment of the imaging contrast improvement. The experimental data were obtained using 128 elements, 4 MHz, linear transducer array of the Ultrasonix research platform. The comparison of the results obtained using the modified and conventional (unweighted) STA algorithms revealed that the modified STA exhibited an increase in the penetration depth accompanied by a minor, yet discernible upon the closer examination, degradation in lateral resolution, mainly in the proximity of the transducer aperture. Overall, however, a considerable (12 dB) improvement in the image quality, particularly in the immediate vicinity of the transducer’s surface was demonstrated. The modified STA method holds promise to be of clinical importance, especially in the applications where the quality of the “near-field” image, that is the image in the immediate vicinity of the scanhead is of critical importance such as for instance in skin- and breast-examinations.

Multi-Element Synthetic Transmit Aperture in Medical Ultrasound Imaging

Abstract: Synthetic aperture (SA) technique is a novel approach to present day commercial systems and has previously not been used in medical ultrasound imaging. The basic idea of SA is to combine information acquired simultaneously from all directions over a number of emissions and to reconstruct the full image from these data. The paper presents the multi-element STA (MSTA) method for medical ultrasound imaging. The main difference with the STA approach is the use of a few elements in the transmit mode in contrast to a single element aperture. This allows increasing the system frame rate, decreasing the number of emissions, and provides the best compromise between the penetration depth and lateral resolution. Besides, a modified MSTA is proposed with a corresponding RF signal correction in the receive mode, which accounts for the element directivity property. In the experiments a 32-element linear transducer array with 0.48 mm inter-element spacing and a burst pulse of 100 ns duration were used. Two elements wide transmission aperture was used to generate an ultrasound wave covering the full image region. The comparison of 2D ultrasound images of a tissue mimicking phantom obtained using the STA and MSTA methods is presented to demonstrate the benefits of the second one.

Modified multi-element synthetic transmit aperture method for ultrasound imaging: A tissue phantom study.

Abstract: The paper presents the modified multi-element synthetic transmit aperture (MSTA) method for ultrasound imaging. It is based on coherent summation of RF echo signals with apodization weights taking into account the finite size of the transmit subaperture and of the receive element. The work presents extension of the previous study where the modified synthetic transmit aperture (STA) method was considered and verified [1]. In the case of MSTA algorithm the apodization weights were calculated for each imaging point and all combinations of the transmit subaperture and receive element using their angular directivity functions (ADFs). The ADFs were obtained from the exact solution of the corresponding mixed boundary-value problem for periodic baffle system modeling the transducer array. Performance of the developed method was tested using Field II simulated synthetic aperture data of point reflectors for 4 MHz 128-element transducer array with 0.3 mm pitch and 0.02 mm kerf to estimate the visualization depth and lateral resolution. Also experimentally determined data of the tissue-mimicking phantom (Dansk Fantom Service, model 571) obtained using 128 elements, 4 MHz, linear transducer array (model L14-5/38) and Ultrasonix SonixTOUCH Research platform were used for qualitative assessment of imaging contrast improvement. Comparison of the results obtained by the modified and conventional MSTA algorithms indicated 15 dB improvement of the noise reduction in the vicinity of transducer’s surface (1 mm depth), and concurrent increase in the visualization depth (86% augment of the scattered amplitude at the depth of 90 mm). However, this increase was achieved at the expense of minor degradation of the lateral resolution of approximately 8% at the depth of 50 mm and 5% at the depth of 90 mm.

Synthetic Aperture Method in Ultrasound Imaging

Abstract: Medical ultrasound imaging is a technique that has become much more prevalent than other medical imaging techniques since it is more accessible, less expensive, safe, simpler to use and produces images in the real time. However, images produced by an ultrasound imaging system, must be of sufficient quality to provide accurate clinical interpretation. The most commonly used image quality measures are spatial resolution and image contrast which can be determined in terms of beam characteristics of an imaging system: beam width and sidelobe level. In the design of an imaging system, the optimal set of system parameters is usually found as a trade-off between the lowest side-lobe peak and the narrowest beam of an imaging system. In conventional ultrasound imaging system, when one transducer (in mechanical wobble) or linear array are used, the quality of images directly depends on the transducer acoustic field. Also in conventional ultrasound imaging the image is acquired sequentially one image line at a time that puts a strict limit on the frame rate that is important in real-time imaging system. Low frame rate means that moving structures (e.g. heart valves) are not easily imaged and diagnosis may be impaired. This limitation can be reduced by employing synthetic aperture (SA) imaging. The basic idea of the SA method is to combine information from emissions close to each other. The synthetic aperture method has previously not been used in medical imaging. This method is a contrast to the conventional beamforming, where only imaging along one line in receiving is used. This means that every image line is visualized as many times as the number of elements used. This will create an equal amount of low resolution images, which are summed up to create one high resolution image. Problems with medical ultrasound include low imaging depth, and high resolution is achieved only in the region where the transducer is focused. Another problem is decreasing SNR with depth. The basic idea with synthetic aperture is to combine information from emissions close to each other. This is a contrast to the conventional beamforming, were only imaging along one line in receiving is used. This means that every image line is visualized as many times as the number of elements used. This will create an equal amount of low resolution images which are summed up to create one high resolution image. One of the important processes in ultrasound imaging systems is beamforming. There are many different beamforming methods. In this work both the synthetic transmit aperture (STA) (Trots, et al. 2009) and the multi-element STA (Trots, et al. 2010) methods for medical ultrasound imaging system are discussed. In the case of the multi-element STA imaging

Nonstandard electrostatic problem for strips

Abstract: The spatial field distribution is the most frequent subject of standard electrostatic analysis. In this paper the system of several strips in external spatial-harmonic electric field, which causes the charge distribution on them, is considered. The solution is constructed as a linear combination of certain template functions, evaluated in spectral domain and satisfying the electric boundary conditions on the strips. The problem is analogous to wave scattering; this justifies the application of the wave-scattering terminology (i.e. incident wave for the external field and the corresponding ‘radiation condition’) in the considered nonstandard ‘electrostatic scattering’ problem. The strip total charge and the Bloch harmonics of the ‘scattered’ field are evaluated.

ULA-OP 256: A 256-Channel Open Scanner for Development and Real-Time Implementation of New Ultrasound Methods

Abstract: Open scanners offer an increasing support to the ultrasound researchers who are involved in the experimental test of novel methods. Each system presents specific performance in terms of number of channels, flexibility, processing power, data storage capability, and overall dimensions. This paper reports the design criteria and hardware/software implementation details of a new 256-channel ultrasound advanced open platform. This system is organized in a modular architecture, including multiple front-end boards, interconnected by a high-speed (80 Gb/s) ring, capable of finely controlling all transmit (TX) and receive (RX) signals. High flexibility and processing power (equivalent to 2500 GFLOP) are guaranteed by the possibility of individually programming multiple digital signal processors and field programmable gate arrays. Eighty GB of on-board memory are available for the storage of prebeamforming, postbeamforming, and baseband data. The use of latest generation devices allowed to integrate all needed electronics in a small size ( $34~\textrm {cm} \times 30~\textrm {cm} \times 26$ cm). The system implements a multiline beamformer that allows obtaining images of 96 lines by 2048 depths at a frame rate of 720 Hz (expandable to 3000 Hz). The multiline beamforming capability is also exploited to implement a real-time vector Doppler scheme in which a single TX and two independent RX apertures are simultaneously used to maintain the analysis over a full pulse repetition frequency range.

A Compressed Sensing Strategy for Synthetic Transmit Aperture Ultrasound Imaging

Abstract: A novel beamforming technique, named compressed sensing based synthetic transmit aperture (CS-STA) is proposed to speed up the acquisition of ultrasound imaging. This technique consists of three steps. First, the ultrasound transducer transmits randomly apodized plane waves for a number of times and receives the backscattered echoes. Second, the recorded backscattered echoes are used to recover the full channel dataset of synthetic transmit aperture (STA) with a compressed sensing (CS) reconstruction algorithm. Finally, an STA image is beamformed from the recovered full STA dataset. As CS allows recovering a signal from its few linear measurements with high probability, CS-STA is capable of recovering the STA image with fewer firings (i.e., higher frame rate) and retaining the high resolution of STA. In addition, the contrast of the STA image can be improved at the same time owing to the higher energy of plane wave firing in CS-STA. Simulations demonstrate that CS-STA is capable of recovering the STA channel dataset with a smaller number of firings. The performance of CS-STA is evaluated in phantom experiments through comparisons with STA, multi-element STA, conventional focused mode and coherent plane wave imaging. The results demonstrate that, implemented with the same frame rate, CS-STA achieves higher or comparable resolution and contrast. Moreover, comparisons are conducted on the biceps brachii muscle and thyroid of a human subject, and the results demonstrate the feasibility and competitiveness of CS-STA in the in vivo conditions.

Full wave 3D inverse scattering transmission ultrasound tomography in the presence of high contrast.

Abstract: We present here a quantitative ultrasound tomographic method yielding a sub-mm resolution, quantitative 3D representation of tissue characteristics in the presence of high contrast media. This result is a generalization of previous work where high impedance contrast was not present and may provide a clinically and laboratory relevant, relatively inexpensive, high resolution imaging method for imaging in the presence of bone. This allows tumor, muscle, tendon, ligament or cartilage disease monitoring for therapy and general laboratory or clinical settings. The method has proven useful in breast imaging and is generalized here to high-resolution quantitative imaging in the presence of bone. The laboratory data are acquired in ~ 12 min and the reconstruction in ~ 24 min-approximately 200 times faster than previously reported simulations in the literature. Such fast reconstructions with real data require careful calibration, adequate data redundancy from a 2D array of 2048 elements and a paraxial approximation. The imaging results show that tissue surrounding the high impedance region is artifact free and has correct speed of sound at sub-mm resolution.

Mechanisms of Interaction of Ultrasound With Cancellous Bone: A Review

Abstract: Ultrasound is now a clinically accepted modality in the management of osteoporosis. The most common commercial clinical devices assess fracture risk from measurements of attenuation and sound speed in cancellous bone. This review discusses fundamental mechanisms underlying the interaction between ultrasound and cancellous bone. Because of its two-phase structure (mineralized trabecular network embedded in soft tissue—marrow), its anisotropy, and its inhomogeneity, cancellous bone is more difficult to characterize than most soft tissues. Experimental data for the dependencies of attenuation, sound speed, dispersion, and scattering on ultrasound frequency, bone mineral density, composition, microstructure, and mechanical properties are presented. The relative roles of absorption, scattering, and phase cancellation in determining attenuation measurements in vitro and in vivo are delineated. Common speed of sound metrics, which entail measurements of transit times of pulse leading edges (to avoid multipath interference), are greatly influenced by attenuation, dispersion, and system properties, including center frequency and bandwidth. However, a theoretical model has been shown to be effective for correction for these confounding factors in vitro and in vivo . Theoretical and phantom models are presented to elucidate why cancellous bone exhibits negative dispersion, unlike soft tissue, which exhibits positive dispersion. Signal processing methods are presented for separating “fast” and “slow” waves (predicted by poroelasticity theory and supported in cancellous bone) even when the two waves overlap in time and frequency domains. Models to explain dependencies of scattering on frequency and mean trabecular thickness are presented and compared with measurements. Anisotropy, the effect of the fluid filler medium (marrow in vivo or water in vitro ), phantoms, computational modeling of ultrasound propagation, acoustic microscopy, and nonlinear properties in cancellous bone are also discussed.

Diagnostics of Synchronous Motor Based on Analysis of Acoustic Signals with the use of Line Spectral Frequencies and K-nearest Neighbor Classifier

Abstract: In industrial processes electrical motors are serviced after a specific number of hours, even if there is a need for service. This led to the development of early fault diagnostic methods. Paper presents early fault diagnostic method of synchronous motor. This method uses acoustic signals generated by synchronous motor. Plan of study of acoustic signal of synchronous motor was proposed. Two conditions of synchronous motor were analyzed. Studies were carried out for methods of data processing: Line Spectral Frequencies and K-Nearest Neighbor classifier with Minkowski distance. Condition monitoring is useful to protect electric motors and mining equipment. In the future, these studies can be used in other electrical devices.