TOBE-Costas Arrays for Fast High-Resolution 3-D Power Doppler Imaging

Area of Science:

• Ultrasound imaging
• Array transducer technology
• Medical imaging systems

Background:

• Two-dimensional (2D) sparse arrays and row-column (RC) arrays are alternatives to fully addressed arrays, offering lower channel counts for 3D imaging.
• RC arrays provide fast 3D imaging but can suffer from grating lobes or require multiplexing.
• 2D sparse arrays allow full-volume acquisition but may have wavefront uniformity issues in plane-wave transmissions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel hybrid array architecture combining RC and 2D sparse arrays.
• To evaluate a hybrid imaging scheme using RC transmission and 2D sparse reception with Costas arrays.
• To address the limitations of standalone RC and sparse arrays in 3D ultrasound imaging.

Main Methods:

• Simulated imaging using a novel TOBE-Costas array architecture.
• Comparison with RC and sparse spiral arrays of equivalent aperture size (128λ × 128λ at 7.5 MHz).
• Evaluation in ultrafast plane-wave imaging of point targets and 3D power Doppler imaging of flow phantoms.

Main Results:

• TOBE-Costas arrays demonstrated superior resolution and reduced sidelobe levels compared to plane-wave compounding with RC arrays.
• The hybrid scheme with TOBE-Costas arrays provided a larger field of view and finer resolution than density-tapered spiral arrays.
• The proposed architecture effectively integrates RC and sparse array benefits.

Conclusions:

• The hybrid TOBE-Costas array architecture is a promising advancement for 3D ultrasound imaging.
• This novel design overcomes the limitations of individual sparse and row-column array approaches.
• The hybrid scheme offers enhanced image quality, resolution, and field of view for advanced ultrasound applications.