Phase aberration correction using echo signals from moving targets. I: Description and theory

Inhomogeneous acoustic velocity in human tissue introduces phase aberration in ultrasonic imaging systems and degrades image quality. A novel technique that employs echo signals from moving diffuse targets, such as flowing blood, as an image quality factor to compensate for phase aberration is described. Such signals can be obtained by subtracting the images of two consecutive target interrogations. The fundamental statistics of the quality factor and other related parameters are developed to provide a theoretical basis for the technique.