Beamforming using spatial matched filtering with annular arrays (L).

Area of Science:

• Acoustics
• Medical Imaging
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Conventional dynamic-receive delay-sum beamforming in ultrasonic B-mode imaging faces limitations.
• Previous work introduced spatial matched filtering (SMF) for linear arrays with rectangular apertures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To extend spatial matched filtering (SMF) beamforming to circularly symmetric apertures, specifically annular arrays.
• To evaluate the performance of SMF with annular arrays compared to conventional methods.

Main Methods:

• Applied spatial matched filtering (SMF) to annular array geometries.
• Compared SMF performance against dynamic-receive delay-sum beamforming.

Main Results:

• SMF with annular arrays significantly improved lateral resolution and echo signal-to-noise ratio.
• SMF demonstrated greatly improved target contrast over an extended field of view at high frequencies.

Conclusions:

• Spatial matched filtering (SMF) is an effective beamforming technique for ultrasonic B-mode imaging using annular arrays.
• SMF offers advantages over conventional methods, particularly in high-frequency imaging scenarios.