title: High-contrast and low-computational complexity medical ultrasound imaging using beamspace capon method.
abstract: Several adaptive beamforming techniques have been proposed to improve the quality of medical ultrasound images. The beamspace (BS) Capon method is one common method used to depict high-resolution images with low computational complexity. However, the complexity is not low enough for real-time imaging in clinical situations because the conventional BS Capon method employs a time-delay process and a transition process from elementspace signal processing to BS signal processing at all points of interest. Thus, we propose a technique that replaces the time-delay process using a steering vector. In addition, the Capon method employs a spatial averaging (SA) technique to stabilize the estimation in intensity. However, when the averaging size is not adequate, the estimated intensity might be smaller than that given by the delay-and-sum (DAS) method. Because most medical diagnoses are presented based on the estimation of intensity acquired by the DAS beamformer, accurate estimation of intensity is also required. Therefore, we propose a compensation technique that uses both small and large sizes for SA. In an experiment, the -6 dB beam width, sidelobe level, and estimation error in the intensity of the proposed method were 0.17 mm, -27 dB, and 0.92 dB, respectively, where those of the conventional BS Capon method were 0.29 mm, -22 dB, and 8.1 dB. The complexity of the proposed method is one-fourteenth that of the conventional method. Compared with conventional methods, the proposed method succeeded in depicting a higher-contrast image with accurate intensity estimation and lower computational complexity.
authors.forename: Shigeaki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Taki
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D014463:Ultrasonography