Ultrasound color-flow imaging on a programmable system.
Color-flow imaging is a well-established ultrasound mode and very valuable for visualizing in real time the distribution of blood flow in a specific region of interest. However, it is computationally quite expensive. To meet the large computational need in color-flow imaging, most ultrasound systems have been designed using fixed-function hardware. In this paper, we present a system where all the color-flow processing is supported on a programmable platform. About 95% of the processing modules were programmed in C language. On a single processor, we were able to achieve 7.9 frames/s, when the input data consist of 192 x 512 x 8 (ensemble size) samples for color flow and 384 x 512 for B mode and the output image size is 600 x 420. Additional processors can be added to handle more input data and/or support higher frame rates. Our results demonstrate that a programmable ultrasound system can provide the same functionality for clinical use as conventional ultrasound systems. However, it is more flexible and efficient due to its programmability.
Shamdasani
Vijay
V
Department of Engineering and Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. vijays@u.washington.edu
Managuli
Ravi
R
Sikdar
Siddhartha
S
Kim
Yongmin
Y
D000465:Algorithms; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*