open-UST: An Open-Source Ultrasound Tomography Transducer Array System

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Acoustics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Clinical adoption of ultrasound tomography (UST) is hindered by the need for faster imaging methods and more accessible hardware.
• Existing UST systems often lack widespread availability, limiting experimental validation of novel measurement configurations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and manufacture a low-cost, open-source 256-element transducer ring array for ultrasound tomography.
• To evaluate the acoustic performance and suitability of the developed system for advanced UST imaging research.

Main Methods:

• Rapid prototyping and novel manufacturing techniques were employed to create the open-source transducer ring array.
• Acoustic performance was characterized using hydrophone scans and watershot data, including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), opening angle, beamwidth, and bandwidth.
• Phantom experiments were conducted to validate image reconstruction capabilities.

Main Results:

• The open-UST system was manufactured for approximately £2k, featuring a 256-element transducer ring array.
• Nominal acoustic performance metrics (61.2 dB SNR, 55.4° opening angle, 10.2 mm beamwidth, 54% bandwidth) were comparable to existing UST systems.
• Low interelement variation (<10%) simplifies image reconstruction by allowing identical element modeling.
• Successful reconstruction of phantom data demonstrated the system's imaging capability.

Conclusions:

• The developed open-UST system is accessible and cost-effective, promoting wider research participation.
• The system's performance is suitable for state-of-the-art full-waveform-inversion image reconstruction, supporting advancements in UST.
• This open-source hardware facilitates experimental validation and accelerates the clinical adoption of ultrasound tomography.