Abstract
The analysis of the beampattern is the base of sparse arrays design process. However, in the case of bidimensional arrays, this analysis has a high computational cost, turning the design process into a long and complex task. If the imaging system development is considered a holistic process, the aperture is a sampling grid that must be considered in the spatial domain through the coarray structure. Here, we propose to guide the aperture design process using statistical parameters of the distribution of the weights in the coarray. We have studied three designs of sparse matrix binned arrays with different sparseness degrees. Our results prove that there is a relationship between these parameters and the beampattern, which is valuable and improves the array design process. The proposed methodology reduces the computational cost up to 58 times with respect to the conventional fitness function based on the beampattern analysis.
Highlights
Progress in ultrasonic array manufacturing has allowed the commercialization of highly-populated apertures [1,2]
The more remarkable result is that using the same number of electronic channels, employing different apertures for emission and reception can improve the results with no significant increase in resources and complexity
Considering the apertures obtained in the previous section, the Amn values are the same, but there is an improvement in the dynamic range (2 to 3 dB)
Summary
Progress in ultrasonic array manufacturing has allowed the commercialization of highly-populated apertures [1,2]. These high-density transducers are difficult to use due to limitations imposed by data acquisition systems. It is possible to manufacture two-dimensional matrix arrays with more than a thousand elements, off-the-shelf commercial equipments are limited to hundreds of electronic channels. To address this mismatch, one proposed solution is to perform analogue prebeamforming, adapt the number of transducers to the number of electronic channels and use a conventional hardware system [3]. Despite the fact that this solution provides practical images of anatomical structures in medical applications, a significant part of the ultrasonic information is missing at the analogue processing stage
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
