title: The benefits of compression methods in acoustic coherence tomography.
abstract: Pulse compression methods improve the quality of ultrasonic medical images. In comparison with standard broadband pulse techniques, these methods enhance the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and increase the probing depth without any perceptible loss of spatial resolution. The Golay compression technique is analyzed here in the context of ultrasonic computed tomography, first on a one-dimensional target and second on a very low-contrast phantom probed using a half-ring array tomograph. The imaging performances were assessed based on the image CNR. The improvement obtained (up to 40%) depends, however, on the number of coherently associated diffraction projections. Beyond a certain number, few advantages were observed. Advances in ultrasound computed tomography suggest that pulse compression methods should provide a useful means of optimizing the trade-off between the image quality and the probing sampling density.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France julienrouyer@hotmail.fr.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rouyer
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mensah
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Clément
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vasseur
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lasaygues
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000465:Algorithms; D044962:Data Compression / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*
keywords: CNR; Golay codes; imaging; pulse compression; ultrasonic computed tomography