High volume rate 3-D ultrasound imaging using cross array based on synthetic transmit focusing

Abstract

A high volume rate 3D ultrasound imaging method using a cross array based on synthetic transmit focusing is presented, in which an ultrasound wave is transmitted successively using each element of a 1D transmit array transducer placed along the elevation direction and the returning pulse echoes are received using all elements of an 1D receive array transducer placed along the lateral direction. On receiving, by employing the conventional dynamic focusing and synthetic transmit focusing methods along lateral and elevation directions, respectively, ultrasound waves can be focused effectively at all imaging points. In this paper, we also proposed a new real-time 3D imaging method using a cross array for improving transmit power and the elevational resolution, which uses linear wave fronts on transmit. Numerical analysis and computer simulation results show that proposed methods provide a volume image with dynamically focused beam pattern along both the lateral and the elevation directions with only 65 transmit-receive events. In particular, a linear-wave-front based method provides a uniform elevation beam width over large depth of field.